Boxes
by Tracy Space Cowgirl
Summary: Alternate Universe. What if Alex Whitman wasn't really dead? A second generation of Roswellians right the wrongs of the past.
1. Enter Jill

Boxes   
by Tracy (biancaheart@yahoo.com)  
  
Rating PG13  
  
Category: AU, FF, Unconventional couples to begin with, but will be Conventional Couples by the end--stick with it, it won't be bad, I swear   
  
Spoilers: "Baby It's You"- the AU takes place after this...  
   
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell...I don't own anything...okaybee?  
  
Author's Note: This work was composed on the Roswellian Ramblings Board at www.roswellunderground.com.  There are some inside references to  "Egyptian" type qualities that board members will recognize and appreciate, but any Roswellian should be able to enjoy this story J

  
FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED!

  
  
  
  
Boxes, boxes, boxes everywhere.  
  
This was her home now. Her first house. No longer did she live with her Mother, Father, brothers and sisters. She was an independent woman. Against all of her parent's protests, she had moved back to their hometown, where they both had grown up. Roswell, New Mexico, a town that hadn't outgrown a fascination with an event that had happened years and years ago.  
  
Brett, her college boyfriend who didn't think that continuing their relationship beyond graduation would benefit anything, had come here interviewing for a job. Jill, still blind from the adoration and gleam that radiated from Brett, had come along, with dreams of white picket fences in her future. The relationship fizzled, but Jill felt amazingly at home among the cheesy décor.   
  
So, in an act of sheer madness, she applied for the Deputy job, the job that Brett didn't get.  
  
At the age of 22, Jill Valenti packed up her bags, kissed her parents goodbye, and drove a U-Haul across country from Florida.  
  
Tomorrow, she would start her first "real" job.  
  
But today, she had to unpack and try to make this house a home. Her home.  
  
Nobody had lived here since 2001. The realtor said that once, a family had lived here, but the teenage son died in a tragic accident. The mother divorced her husband after the funeral, and the father, left all alone in a shrine to the past, had gone crazy.  
  
There were no relatives, and so the house had basically stayed a masoleum, a monument to a past gone horribly wrong.  
  
The furniture was nice, mostly new, and Jill decided it would only take a little cleaning to spice it up.  
  
She strolled over to the kitchen table, and picked up her purse. She withdrew a Cd and started to play it with her powers.  
  
***

  
A long time ago, he lost track of time. Time didn't mean a thing. He transcended time.  
  
It would have been better for him if he would just be dead.  
  
He saw the Sheriff come to the door and tell his father about the death.  
  
He saw his friends, mourning for him in his very room.  
  
He saw his parents fight and divorce.  
  
He saw his mother walk away.  
  
He saw his father be taken away.  
  
He saw his friends grow older, and move away.  
  
He had stopped living a long time ago, but he hadn't stopped watching.  
  
The future went on, but he could have no part in it.  
  
Realtors showed the house from time to time, but nobody wanted to buy a haunted house.   
  
He wanted to leave the house, but he couldn't. Somehow, beyond his own understanding, he was tied to this house. He couldn't leave, no matter how hard he tried.  
  
So he stayed, in his house, day after day, without Internet access, dreaming of what might have been. He had learned how to be good at dreaming.  
  
But on this one day, something was different.  
  
He felt someone in the house. And he could hear someone singing along to music.  
  
It had been ages since he had heard music of any kind. And this person could sing—like an angel.  
  
He walked down the stairs, or did what any ghost did that is close to walking.  
  
There was a woman in his living room. A young woman. She danced and swayed to the music like it was in her blood. The song was one he remembered being on the radio, but not one that he could remember the name of. He was doing good to remember his name anymore.  
  
She turned around, and he caught a glimpse of her face for the first time. She was beautiful. He hadn't seen beauty like that since Isabel came by to give her goodbye speech before she went to college.   
  
Her hair was shoulder length, a golden blond waterfall that fell at her shoulders. Her eyes were the most unique shade of blue, a shade of blue that made her eyes sparkle and shine. Her face was perfectly shaped, as if God had sent out an order to make this girl-this woman different. She was unlike anything she'd ever seen before.  
  
Sighing, the girl sat down and pulled a small device out of her pocket. She punched at it for a second, and then talked into it.  
  
It must be a phone, he reasoned.  
  
"Hello, Mom?" The girl said with a voice that seemed musical. "Yeah….it's taking longer than I expected. No…the traffic was just fine. No…that thing with Brett is over once and for all….and No, I haven't looked him up…cousins, really? Oh, an uncle, sort of. Okay. Saturday. Saturday, I'll go visit them in the retirement home. Yes, I know that her memory's bad…Say…did I leave a box of photos there? I did? Great…can you ship them…Thanks. How's Dad? Ah, ok. Say hi to everybody. I love you. Bye."  
  
After the phone call, she finished doing a few more chores. She certainly was a busy bee, he thought, watching her zip around the room.  
  
At one point, she picked up his picture from the mantle.  
  
"I wonder what you'd think of the place now." She said, before moving the picture to a more out of the way location, over on the bookshelf.  
  
She ordered a pizza, and he was surprised when she grabbed a bottle of Tabasco from the kitchen and poured it on her meal. Could she be????  
  
After her meal, she started to explore other parts of the house. She ventured upstairs and entered his room.  
  
"This was your room." She said, looking at the décor of the room. "The boy in the picture. My parents always told me about how terrible it is to loose a friend, for someone so young to die. It happened to their friend, it happened to you, and it happened to Jett." Her eyes started to fill, and tears began to flow down her face.  
  
He wished he could put his arms around her and tell her everything would be ok.   
  
She laid down on his bed, and cried into the comforter.  
  
He sat there, feeling more and more useless than he ever had in all these years.   
  
When she fell asleep, he lifted up the comforter and covered her up, not wanting her to feel the cold chill he'd felt for years.  
  
***

  
She was late.  
  
It was her very first day as an independent woman, and she was late going to work.  
She barely remembered falling asleep. Memories—memories of Jett, had come flowing back to her. Jett…the reason why she couldn't just live with her parents. She couldn't deal with the guilt- with the fact that she had failed…  
  
She grabbed a clean white T-shirt and a crisp pair of black pants out of her suitcase, and dressed as quickly as she could. She still had to call the water company about getting her water turned back on…  
  
"You're late." The impressive figure in the Sheriff's uniform said as she entered the office.  
  
"I'm sorry, I haven't exactly unpacked my alarm clock yet." She said, running her fingers through her hair. "It won't happen again."  
  
"See that it doesn't. We don't look too kindly to nepotism, even though it is a small town. A name with a legacy won't keep you this job, believe you me."  
  
"I know, sir. It was an accident, I swear."  
  
The officer's face changed from a frown into an easygoing grin, much like her Dad's. "Now that the unpleasant part is over with, can I welcome you to Roswell? I've seen your pictures, but I don't think we've ever met in person."  
  
She looked confused. "Excuse me."  
  
He pointed to his name badge. "Rob Valenti. Your Uncle. My father is your Grandpa, and my mother is your Aunt Maria's mother."  
  
"So you're the family that my mom was talking about, huh?"  
  
"Probably Chad, Anna, and I. I'm sure Mom would love for you to come to dinner tonight."  
  
"I'd love to." Jill said, a genuine smile flitting to her face. She might just make it after all.


	2. The Secrets That You Keep

  
"So my Dad grew up here?" She said staring at the once imposing figure that was her Grandfather. She'd only met him once before, and she was really little then. Her memories were mostly of Granny and Grumpy, flying in from Roswell and spoiling her with all sorts of doo dads and trinkets.  
  
She could see her Dad in her Grandfather. He had a similar structure, and the posture was practically identical. And the eyes…the eyes that she had too, the so called Valenti eyes that everyone in her family had, except for Robin, who had inherited her Mother's golden brown eyes.  
  
"Not exactly in this house, but in this town, yes. Amy and I built this house after we got married…Kyle and Maria were off at college, and your parents were already engaged."  
"They got married soo young. They were younger than I am now. But I know…I know that they're a perfect match for each other. How did they get together, they never really told me…"  
  
Her grandfather turned towards her. "Darling, there are some mysteries that you don't want to solve. Somethings are better left unsaid."  
  
"What are you talking about?" She said, looking at the framed Senior portrait of her Dad. "I always thought that they were each others first love, they did grow up here, and they got married so young…"  
  
He put his hand gently on her shoulder. "Things happen when you are young, things change very rapidly. Your parents grew up in a turbulent time, there adolescence was terrible…what you know is only a fraction of what they went through. There are other stories to be told, but they aren't mine to tell, Jill. I suggest you ask your parents. I'd be breaking a confidence if I told what I knew."  
  
She sighed and followed her grandfather as he walked into the dining room. There was something going on, and she didn't know what.  
  
Over dinner, the family made small talk.  
  
Chad was 21, and he looked amazlingly like his mother, Amy, with dark hair, but with the Valenti blue eyes. Anna was 18, a Senior in High School, the same age as Jill's sister, Tara. Jill automatically felt at home with this rag tag bunch, and she laughed at the stories that Amy and Jim shared about all of their children. It was like being back home, without the shadows that had enveloped and ruined her hometown for Jill.  
  
"So where do you live?" Anna said, flipping her light brown hair off of her shoulder. "Did you get an apartment?"  
  
Jill shook her head. "Actually, I lucked out. I found a good sized house, for not a lot of money."  
  
"Where?" Anna said, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "I wish I could get my own house…"  
  
"You are still too young." Jim looked at his daughter sternly.  
  
"I won't be too young forever." Anna sulked.  
  
"Actually, it's the old Whitman house…" Jill responded, drawing everyone's attention away from Anna's pout.  
  
"The haunted place?" Chad exclaimed. "You do have a lot of chutzpah."  
  
Amy reached for Jim's hand as she grew noticeably pale.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jill responded, confused beyond belief.  
  
"It's a old legend that the ghost of the boy who lives there still is there." Rob said, making a design out of his mashed potatoes and peas.  
  
"It's a story, that's all it is." Jim said with an authoritive air that let everyone know that the conversation was done with, once and for all.  
  
***  
  
He didn't try to stop change.  
  
He couldn't spend all his time cleaning, and he couldn't stop the relators from coming and showing the house, moving the furniture, and messing up the carpet with their dirty shoes.  
  
So he let time take its course.  
  
But he did keep one object in the back of his closet, the area that he always went to think.  
  
A box of photographs.   
  
The memories, the evidence, of his life.  
  
His parents, smiling on their wedding day.  
  
His first picture, taken when he was a newborn in his mother's arms.  
  
Other amazing firsts, silly baby pictures, and one of a bare naked baby on a bareskin rug that he'd like to burn.  
  
School pictures, Kindergarten through Junior year.  
  
Anna, his baby sister who had died too young.  
  
Pictures of Liz, Maria, and him, back when they didn't know anything about fear or pain.  
  
Pictures from fifth grade.  
  
Then, when his world had changed, and grown, more people were added to the stack.  
  
Max, with his shy and easy smile.  
  
Michael, with his trademark smirk.  
Tess, flaunting her perfect curls.  
  
Kyle, imitating Christian Slater for the camera.  
  
And Isabel, his stargazing princess.  
  
He stared at the last photo in the box, one of everyone at prom together.  
  
That picture was the last time everything was right. When everybody was together, and happy…and safe.  
  
Max and Liz had broken up that night, and a rift grew between Kyle and Tess that could never be fixed. And then he had died.  
  
He tortured himself looking at the pictures. Remembering what had been..and dreaming about what might have been.  
  
And then he heard her on the stairs. His new house mate.   
  
She opened the door and came into the room. "Just think about it Jill, you bought yourself a haunted house. What are you going to do about it now?"  
  
He chuckled. She had no idea. Just no idea.  
  
She looked around. "You certainly were messy, weren't you."  
  
His head shot up at that one. "It's not dirty…for not being lived in for over 20 years." He muttered to himself.  
  
"I wonder if you knew my parents. It would be quite interesting if you did…you probably did…oh why I am I talking to myself?" She groaned, slamming her fist down on his computer.  
  
"Hey! Delicate equipment!" He squeaked.  
  
"Oops…" She muttered. "It should be ok…It's a relic, but it might still work." She tried the power switch, but nothing happened. She tried for a few more minutes, fiddling around with the cords and things, until she finally gave up and shot a beam of power at it.  
  
He fell off the chair where he was sitting.  
  
She was Czechoslovakian, or some other European non existing nationality. But was she a good alien, or a bad alien?  
  
Jill played around with the computer and actually laughed at some things. "Wallpaper of Jennifer Anniston? She does Denture commercials!"  
Then she started to access his diary. Some things were personal, even if he were dead. Especially since he was dead.  
  
Using his ghostly power, he moved the chair out from under her.   
  
She spun around as she started to fall, and shot a beam of power out of her fingers.  
  
It hit him, and he wasn't prepared for the consequences. Definitely not prepared.


	3. Ghosts, Aliens, and The Wonderful World ...

***  
  
She watched in awe as the image of a seventeen-year-old boy materialized in front of her. He was tall, with dark hair, blue eyes, and big ears….He was the boy in the picture downstairs.  
  
She screamed.  
  
He screamed.  
  
"Who are you?" She said, slowly inching towards the door.   
  
"Who are you?" He said, inching back towards the safe and familiar closet.  
  
"It's my house!" They both shrieked at the same time.  
  
"You're a ghost." She said, staring at him. "You died. You're dead. Then how are you standing here, in this room with me?"  
  
"You can see me?" He asked incredulously.  
  
"Uh, yeah." She said, shaking her head affirmatively.   
  
"I have been here since the accident. I found myself here, and I just can't leave. And in all these years, you are the first person to see me."  
  
"And that makes me lucky?"  
  
"It makes me feel lucky for the first time in ages."  
  
"You didn't answer my question."  
  
"You answered the question for yourself. I'm Alex Whitman. And who are you?"  
  
"Jill. Jill Diane Valenti. And this is my house. Get out. Go haunt somewhere else."  
  
"I can't. I can't leave this house."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"A place with no cable TV or internet access? I'd rather be in someplace…more exciting, that's for sure."  
  
"Oh. So how do I get you to go away?"  
  
"I don't know. Your last name is Valenti? Are you related to the Sheriff?"  
  
"The sheriff is my cousin." She said. "Oh, I cannot believe this! I am talking to something that doesn't exist. Ghosts do not exist. I am just extra tired. So I am going to go downstairs, sleep on the couch, and in the morning, none of this will exist." She muttered, closing the door behind her.  
  
"Jill Valenti." Alex said, looking at the retreating figure. "The more things stay the same…the more it changes."  
  
***  
  
Alex watched her sleep.  
  
It was a miracle.   
  
Someone could see him. He'd gone so many years…so long without anybody seeing him…  
  
That day. That horrible horrible day. Tess had been using him- using her mindwarping skills to satisfy her own selfish priorities. He'd always wondered why she picked him- perhaps because of his computing skills? He'd gone over to confront Tess…to let her know that he wouldn't play along anymore…and then Kyle had come into the room…and the next thing Alex knew he was back in his own room, in this ghostlike state that was now his reality.  
  
Jill…Jill Valenti…a cousin of the Sheriff, she must be, a distant relative of Jim and Kyle. That must be why she seemed familiar…why she so familiar, as if he had known her for ages.  
  
He was going to find out what happened, with Jill's help.  
  
There had to be a reason he was still here, some mission that he had to fill…like the ghosts in that movie Maria made him watch… "Heart and Souls", with Robert Downey Junior.  
  
So he would try to find out what happened to everyone- Max, Liz, Maria, Kyle, Michael…and Isabel.   
  
And maybe he would finally find peace.  
  
Maybe.  
  
***  
  
It had been the strangest dream.  
  
Her house was not, repeat it, haunted by a ghost. A young, not too bad looking ghost.  
  
She opened her eyes.  
  
The ghost was still there. Alex, she reminded herself, he did have a name. Alex Whitman.   
  
Jill rubbed her eyes and stared. As if she didn't have enough problems being Czechoslovakian. As if….  
  
The phone rang, taking her attention off of Alex, and she rolled over and grabbed the phone.  
  
"Jill!" Her best friend's voice chirped over the wire.  
  
"Casey!" Jill exclaimed, glad to hear a familiar voice "How goes it?"  
  
"Well, you know how things are at the Guerin house…always a zoo…"  
  
"I think it's in the genes."  
  
"Very funny. So how goes the life of a cop?"  
  
"I was late for my first day on the job."  
  
"I thought I was the one who didn't know what a watch was, Jilly."  
  
"Very funny, Case. I got to meet and spend time with my cousins. Rob, Chad, and Anna…and I found out that my house is haunted."  
  
"Get out!"  
  
"I'm totally out!"  
  
"Have you actually seen it?"  
  
"Uh…."  
  
"Is it there right now?" Casey squealed. "I am going to have to hitch the first flight down there that I can and see this for myself."  
  
Jill glanced over at the clock. "Case, can I call you back later? If I don't get moving, I'm going to be late…for the second day in a row!"  
  
"Yeah sure, but you'd better call back!"  
  
"Give everybody my love, and say hi to my parents, ok?"  
  
"Sure. Talk to ya later."  
  
"Bye."  
  
"That was a touching conversation." Alex said as Jill hung up the phone.  
  
"It was a private conversation." She replied icily.  
  
"Sorry. I couldn't help but overhear."  
  
"Couldn't you, couldn't you just float off to another room or something?"  
  
"It's my house! I can do whatever I want."  
  
"I paid good money for this house, and I have the authority to have phone conversations with whoever I want! And I will!"  
  
"Don't let me stop you!"   
  
She walked over to her suitcase, and took out an outfit. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go get dressed, and I would like some privacy, Casper!"  
  
Alex laughed. "Like I even want to see…I don't even like you!"  
  
"Then it's mutual!" Jill yelled from behind the door.  
  
She showered and dressed quickly, glad that she did call and get all the utilities turned on the previous day. Deciding to let her hair air dry, she skipped downstairs and got herself a Nutri-Grain bar for breakfast.  
  
Alex sat on the couch, reading one of the books she had unpacked, one by John Grisham that he had never even heard of…because it was published 10 years ago…a classic book to Jill, but something totally new and original to him.  
  
Jill looked at her watch and muttered a curse. She grabbed her purse and ran out to her car.  
  
And Alex couldn't believe it when he was propelled through the air, through the door and into the passenger's seat of the car.  
  
***  
  
"I thought you couldn't leave the house!"  
  
"I've never been able to before!" He said, rubbing his head. "Every single time I tried, I was yanked back into the house, just as I was pulled out here!"  
  
"This is just great!" She sighed. "What are people going to say if they see you?"  
  
"Who is that great looking man she has with her?"  
  
Jill rolled her eyes. "Somehow, I don't think so. What if somebody knows you, and sees you? This is bad, this is bad, this is bad."  
  
"Maybe only you can see me. Nobody, not my parents, not my best friends, not my girlfriend, could see me. Maybe there's something special about you, about us…"  
  
"You had a girlfriend?"   
  
"A very gorgeous one, actually."  
  
"Miracles will never cease."   
  
"I don't see you with an active dating life either."  
  
"I'm new in town, and my last boyfriend was a jerk, ok? I don't have time to talk about this right now, I have to get to work."  
  
"I'm not stopping you. Put the pedal to metal."  
  
"Just stop the stupid clichés, would you?"  
  
***  
  
She was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored.  
  
Rob was off talking to the elementary school during career day, and she had the office to herself. It was a slow crime day. The phone hadn't rung, and she finished all the filing and other tasks she was assigned. So she was sitting at her desk, staring at Alex.  
  
Alex had his feet up on her desk, and was looking at a calendar in amazement. "In the year 2025, If Man is still alive…"  
  
"That's not how the song goes, is it?" She asked, and then shook her head. "I can't believe I'm talking to a ghost."  
  
"And I can't believe I'm talking to an alien." He countered.  
  
She sat up straight. "How in the heck do you know about that?"  
  
He swallowed, and looked up at her. "I had friends that were aliens, a long time ago. Almost 25 years ago, a quarter of a century ago. I kept their secret, and I was alive then. I assure you I won't tell anybody, ok? I'm dead. Who would believe me?"  
  
"How did you know about me?"  
  
"I saw you use your powers."  
  
Jill put her head in her hands. "Mom always warned me to be more careful."  
  
Alex reached for her arm, and felt tingles run up and down his spine when actually felt flesh beneath his fingers.  
  
"It's ok." He said, in a soothing voice.   
  
"Yeah, it's just you this time…but it could be somebody else the next time. It could be the government, or somebody else. I could let it slip, and put everybody in danger. Everybody, my parents, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins…." She trailed off as the tears began to fall.   
  
Alex got up and walked to the other side of the desk. He got Jill to stand up and he wrapped her up in his arms. It had been so long since he had held anybody, or been held. The human contact was amazing, just being able to feel like he was important…like he belonged…this was the best thing that had happened to him…since the prom.  
  
Thinking about prom made him think about Isabel. Isabel, with her gorgeous face, and smile, she truly was loyalty. Isabel who tried so hard to hide the fact that she was vunerable, that she needed other people as much as anybody else. That she could not do everything by herself. That she could not carry the world on her shoulders.  
  
Jill…Jill reminded him of Isabel. She had the same standoffish attitude. She had a secret to keep, and she guarded it with her life. But when she was singing, or talking on the phone to her friend, she was a totally different person. A young woman, full of love and passion, with light in her eyes that couldn't be extinguished. And seeing her cry…he was reminded of Isabel when they were searching for a way to rescue Max…as if she was only resulting to tears because it was the last resort…the only remaining option.  
  
Jill twirled as she heard the door open.  
  
"Rob!" She exclaimed, with a sob.  
  
Her cousin rushed over to her side. "Jill, are you ok?"  
  
She nodded, and accepted the shoulder that Rob offered. He escorted her into his office.  
  
Alex missed her presence. He missed the human contact…he missed the connection that had been made…if it had only been for a split second. In frustration, he kicked the filing cabinet to his right.  
  
"O-Z". He muttered. "The wonderful world of OZ my butt." He bent over to adjust the drawer, but noticed a file sticking out.  
  
"Whitman, Alexander Charles." It read.  
  
Despite the fact he didn't have a physical body, he felt sick to his stomach.


	4. Past Meets the Future

  
  
"Come on, Pizza, Pizza, Pizza." Jill chanted. "Why does Pizza delivery always take so long?"  
  
"Try Thai food. It's murder." Alex called, and then winced when he thought about the significance of the statement.  
  
"I wouldn't touch anything so vile."  
  
"Don't blame you. It truly is terrible."  
  
"Except to the people that like it.."  
  
Alex started to laugh. "Jill, are you trying to fight me? I'm agreeing with you!"  
  
Jill started to laugh. "I guess I don't want to let anybody in. It's a lot easier not to get hurt that way."  
  
The doorbell rang, and Jill finally got her pizza.   
  
"Didn't you just get pizza last night?" Alex said as Jill smothered her food with Tabasco.  
"It's my favorite food. We don't eat it much at home…except for when it's just me and my dad…and now that I am on my own, I'll get it as often as I want. I am an adult!"  
  
"And you sound like it too."  
  
"Shut up!" Jill exclaimed, turning on the TV. "Ooooh, Jurrassic Park 3. A classic."  
  
"Dude, I never got to see this! Oh man, we have to go rent the 2nd and 3rd Star Wars Prequels, and did they ever make anymore Batman movies?"  
  
"I have the whole Star Wars Saga on MDVD. And yeah, the whole Batman franchise still goes on. I swear, Warner Brothers would do anything for money."  
  
"MDVD?"  
  
"Mini-DVD."  
  
"They found a way to make DVD's even smaller? Do they still have special features?"  
  
Jill shrugged. "Go ahead and look at them if it makes you happy, ghost boy. They're over there in the entertainment unit." She changed the channel again. "Uggh….I tell you, Buffy the Middle Aged Vampire Mother is not a good show….cut the cord, you know…it should have went out on top."  
  
"It's on UPN?" Alex squeaked, looking at the TV. "I thought it was on the WB."  
  
"UPN stole it away in 2001…they also took "Sydney" that show about teenage aliens in Australia.."  
  
"They ruined that show in the second season. The first season was great…with all the Allie and Jason action…"  
  
"Oh, and Sheli and Brian…" Jill gushed.   
  
"You like the show?"  
  
"Mom got me hooked on reruns."  
  
"Your mom sounds like a pretty cool person. Someone that I'd like."  
  
"She's great." Jill said, and then felt something poking her in thigh.  
  
"Ouch!" She said, looking at the offending object.  
  
It was a folder, like the ones used at work. This was an older one. And it read "Whitman, Alexander Charles."  
"This is your file." She muttered, looking at the folder. "Alex? Why did you take this? Do you know how much trouble I could be in?"  
  
  
***  
  
  
"That folder will help me find out…what happened and why. 24 years ago, in 2001, I died. And I need to figure out why."  
  
"And a folder will tell you why? You know that investigations don't always find the truth, or the whole truth. If it did, my uncle would have died years before he did, and my mother would have been hauled off too, and goodness knows what would have happened to my Dad? The answers aren't always on paper, Alex."  
  
He stared at her. She was so vibrant, so full of life, so passionate. If he was alive…he didn't know what he would do. He couldn't deny that her words, so full of emotion, triggered a sense inside him that had been long dormant.  
  
"Then how do I find them?"  
  
She sighed, looked down at her feet, and then looked back at Alex. "I'll help you, that's what. I'll help you."  
  
For the first time in twenty four years, a smile traced the face of Alex Whitman.  
  
***  
  
"I can't believe I'm doing this." She sighed.  
  
"What, going to the library? You sound like someone I used to know."  
  
"I love the library. My Dad is another story. He always got sad when he took us to the library."  
  
"Why?" Alex said, as they strolled inside the library. Roswell's library stayed open until 11 on weeknights, so they had a bit of time- it was only 9:30.  
  
Jill shrugged. "I dunno. He always said it reminded him of someone."  
  
"Weird."  
  
"I know. So what are we going to look at?"  
  
"I'll go back in the back and find the old West Roswell High yearbooks. You look through the microfilm and find any articles you can. Run them off and bring them to me."  
"Yes sir, Captain."  
  
"That's Admiral Whitman to you." He said, winking at her and wiggling his eyebrows.  
  
"Oh give me a break!" Jill said as she headed off to the microfilm section.  
  
***  
"2001" Alex muttered. "I paid for a copy of this yearbook, and I never got it. Ripoff."  
  
He turned the pages.  
  
Everyone was so young. They were all kids then, carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.  
  
He smiled at the class pictures. Maria, with her curls. Max, looking like the leader few knew that he truly was. Isabel, looking like she had the world completely under his control. She really was beautiful. And she had loved him, as he loved her. Michael, sulking for the camera, and Tess hamming it up.  
  
Tess. Why? Why had she done this? Was this terrible fate her way of getting Max for herself, once and for all. He felt rage, anger like he had never ever felt before. She robbed him of a future. Of a life.  
  
The last page had his and Kyle's pictures, right beside each other because there was no other names that fell between Valenti and Whitman.  
  
The alphabetical order had also made Kyle his best friend, back in first grade when he first moved to Roswell. They sat beside each other that year, and helped each other with craft projects, and the troublesome task of learning to write. That whole year they were best buddies, going everywhere together and doing everything together. Then that summer, Kyle's mother left, and then Alex went back to California for the summer. Kyle went to Boy Scout camp that summer and made a whole new group of friends. Lonely on the playground, watching Kyle play with Tommy, Paulie, and the rest of the popular crowd, Alex had stooped to pick up a ball that a curly haired pixie dropped. That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  
  
Despite a few incidents in fifth grade, Kyle and Alex never really interacted, until Kyle started to get interested in Liz. And then…with the sound of a metallic bullet, everyone's lives changed. It wasn't until they were trapped underground, afraid of being taken and killed by an alien parasite, that Kyle and Alex had become friends again. And things were cool, both having a best friend to lean on.  
  
Then he had died.  
  
He wondered what happened to Kyle.  
  
Alex decided to shut the book and go get the 2002 yearbook, and find out what their Senior year had been like…without him.  
  
In flipping, he caught something that made him cry.  
  
A collage. "IN LOVING MEMORY OF ALEX WHITMAN"  
  
There were pictures of him at various ages, doing all sorts of things…pictures of the Whits, pictures of the gang….even pictures of his guitars. It was something done with love. He was amazed, and his heart filled with joy and sadness together at the same time, a vicious cocktail that shook his soul. In the corner was a small signature: From your Friends, We Love You Always…collage made by Maria De Luca and Michael Guerin.  
  
He was gone…but not forgotten.  
  
  



	5. Someone Saved My Life Tonight

She stared at the picture. It was Alex.  
  
"TEENAGER KILLED IN DEADLY ACCIDENT."  
  
The picture was one obviously taken by a school photographer, with the generic blue gray background. He looked even better in person, Jill decided. He must be one of those people that don't photograph well.  
  
She shouldn't feel that way.  
  
Alex was dead. He'd been dead since before she was born.  
  
But….she couldn't think of him as just a ghost anymore. He was a friend, a wonderful friend that made her laugh. It was almost as if she found the male version of Casey, someone who fit all the places where she felt hollow.  
  
Too bad he was dead.  
  
And too old for her.  
  
She must be one of those people who was destined to have heartache for the rest of her life. Happiness was not meant to be hers.  
  
She needed her Mom. She needed her badly. Her mom always had the knack of making her feel better, of making her smile. Her mother annoyed her at times, with her rules and regulations, and incessant worrying…but her mother was still her friend…a very good friend.  
  
She scanned through the articles of the next two months, and copied all of them off without reading the article.  
  
It was too bad she didn't.  
  
She missed the quotes her parents made about their good friend, Alex Whitman.  
  
***  
  
"2002" Alex muttered, looking at the book's cover. "Taking Our Place in the Universe." He quoted the book's motto. "How ironic."  
  
He flipped to the Senior Section.  
  
Senior Superlatives.  
  
Smartest: Liz Parker and Max Evans.  
  
Most Popular: Maggie Sherman and Doug Sohn  
  
Most Athletic: Kris Johnson and Kyle Valenti  
  
Best Dressed: Gracie Cohen and Thomas Malamud  
  
Most Likely to Succeed: Isabel Evans and Max Evans  
  
And then there were the Silly Superlatives…a West Roswell High tradition…  
  
Some of them were pretty stupid…Best Farts, Most Forgetful, Most Likely to marry Keanu Reeves…Keanu Reeves?  
  
One made him smile.   
  
Most Dysfunctional Couple- Maria De Luca and Michael Guerin.  
  
Now that certainly was the truth.  
  
One made him frown.  
  
Couple Most Likely to be Married (Happily) in 25 years- Isabel Evans and Kyle Valenti.  
  
WHAT?  
  
Alex slammed the book down.  
  
It had to be a joke, a joke, yeah, that's what it was. Isabel and Kyle were too obvious a couple, both beautiful and popular people…the kind that people expected to go out and breed Stepford children. But they didn't…they wouldn't, they couldn't, right?   
  
Alex decided he had enough for one night. He put the book in its proper place on the shelf, and went off to find Jill.  
  
***  
  
She looked up to see Alex, and wanted to jump for joy. "Let's ditch this place" she muttered in a hushed tone.  
  
He nodded his head.  
  
"I've got the copies in my purse. You were quite a news topic back in 2001, you know?"  
  
He just grunted.  
  
"You're acting just like Uncle Mike…now tell me what's wrong?"  
  
He shrugged. "I found out that the girl I liked…the girl I loved…started dating one of my best friends the year after I died. I thought…I thought…I don't know what I thought, but I didn't expect them to be together."  
  
"Oh." Jill said, looking up at the sky. "The stars sure are pretty tonight."  
  
"Is….My girlfriend always liked the stars. I always felt that she belonged among them."  
  
"Stargazing is something my mother and I do together. We take this book, this book she's had for ages, and look at the stars. None of my sisters or James like to look at the stars…Jett did though."  
  
"Who's Jett?"  
  
"Jett…was one of my best friends….besides Casey…and I loved him. I really did. I was sixteen, and he got in a car crash, and he died…"  
  
Alex reached over and put his arm around her. "I'm sorry, Jill. So sorry."  
  
"I was in the car that night, Alex. I could have healed him. I could have saved him. I got knocked unconscious, and by the time I woke up, he was gone. I still remember the night…I can't forget it…it was my fault."  
  
"No it wasn't. Nobody, no alien, no doctor, even, can save everybody all the time. It was his time to go. It was not your fault, Jill. It was not."  
  
"Try telling that to his Mom and Dad."   
  
"They blame you?" He asked, incredulously.  
  
"I do. It was my fault. I told him to turn around so I could get my purse. I forgot it."  
  
"Jill…" Alex said as a shout drowned out his words.  
  
"Turn around and put your hands in the air. This is a hold up."  
  
***  
  
Jill swallowed heavily. She complied, and cursed that she didn't bring her gun with her.  
  
"Give me your purse."  
  
"I'll give you all the money I have, and everything of value, but that has some family documents that I need…please let me keep them." Jill pleaded.  
  
"Hurry it up." The thief muttered.  
  
She handed over the purse.   
  
The thief started to run off, but turned back around. "You might talk." He said, inching close to her. "Too bad…you're a pretty one.." the thief elaborated, running his hand down her face. "Maybe I should take you with me."  
  
"I don't think so. I'd kick your ass from here to Tucson."   
  
"Not advisable, pretty baby." The thief said, pulling out a gun and shooting.  
  
Alex felt a rush of adrenaline. He leaped in front of Jill.  
  
He wasn't going to let her die. Bullets had almost claimed the life of two of his closest friends.  
  
A bullet would not take down Jill.  
  
The thief stood there in amazement. Something prevented the bullet from hitting her. Groaning, he hit the girl in the face, causing her to fall to the ground.  
  
He never saw what decked him a second later.  
  
***  
  
Jill awakened in Alex's room…with his face looking over her.  
  
"Alex?" she said feeling sore all over at the slight motion. "What happened?"  
  
"The thief hit you when I stopped the bullet. Left you with a pretty good shiner, but you should be ok."  
  
"How did I get here?"  
  
"I punched 911 on your phone thing…the Sheriff came and got you..and took away the crook…and then Amy came and took care of you…to make sure you're ok, you obviously couldn't go to the ER, with your…otherworldly status..."  
  
"You stopped the bullet?"  
  
"I couldn't let you die."  
  
She stared up at Alex, as he stared down at her.  
  
Slowly, as if some force was drawing them together, their lips met.  
  
Jill felt like she was soaring, like this, having Alex here, like this, her lips intertwining with his, was better than any dream could constantly be.  
  
Alex felt like he was home. For the first time since Prom Night, everything felt exactly right and wonderful, just like it should be.  
  
  



	6. Meet The Parents

She awoke to a pounding on the door.  
  
Jill sat up with a start, not realizing that she was still in Alex's arms.  
  
"Wha? What?" Alex exclaimed in a groggy voice, having been asleep- or as close to sleep as ghosts could get.  
  
"The door. Somebody's pounding on the door." Jill grabbed her robe and started to go down the stairs. "Whoever it is, I'll just tell them to go away." She ran her hand through her hair. "I know I look terrible…"  
  
"Jill, you were mugged last night."  
  
"An alien should always look her best." Jill said, taking the stairs two at a time, wanting to get rid of the incessant knocking as soon as possible.  
  
She opened the door. "Hi….I'm sorry, but I…"  
  
Her mouth snapped shut when she recognized the two faces. The two very familiar faces.  
  
"Mom…Dad…" She said once she regained her voice.. "I didn't know that you were coming.."  
  
"I didn't either." Her dad replied. "But after your grandfather called and said that you were mugged, your Mom had our flight booked, and your siblings dropped over at the Guerins before I even knew what was happening."   
  
"It isn't the first time I've been way ahead of you dear." Her mother teased. "Jill, your eye! Oh baby…"   
  
"Mom, it's nothing more than what Casey has had a million times since Kindergarten. I'll be fine."  
  
"I'll heal it for you.." Her Mom reached out her hand to heal the black eye, but Jill jerked her hand away. "I'll be fine. I have powers myself, and it would look very suspicious if my eye healed miraculously overnight."  
  
"True." Her mother said, stepping inside the house. "I know. I just want to wrap you up in cotton and keep you safe.."  
  
"Isabel, how many times have I told you that's too expensive." Kyle cracked a joke as he followed his wife and daughter inside the house.  
  
"You haven't changed it much…" Isabel muttered as she looked around. "Hardly any at all…"  
  
"Scooter" Kyle said, using Jill's childhood nickname, "I don't think this old house is good for your mother. Why don't I take you two out for some lunch, and we can talk?"  
  
"Lunch?" Jill said confused.  
  
"It's 1:30." Isabel said looking at her with concern. "Are you sure you're ok?"  
  
"For the last time, I'm fine." Jill said, running upstairs to get dressed.  
  
***  
  
Alex didn't notice when Jill rushed upstairs to get dressed. He didn't notice anything.  
  
He'd know that voice anywhere. The tones, the pitch, it was unmistakable.  
  
Isabel.  
  
Isabel was in this house.  
Not paying attention to the conversation that was going on, he rushed downstairs.  
  
It was Isabel.  
  
And she was still beautiful.  
  
Age had changed her only a little. Her face looked older, not wrinkled, but the bits of immaturity and innocence that had been there were erased. Her hair was short, only coming to the length of her chin. It was still golden, and it shone in the early afternoon sun. Alex found it hard to believe that almost a quarter of a century had passed since he last saw her.   
  
For a second, she looked up, and he swore that she saw him. But she looked immediately to the man at her side, her hand reaching out for his, and grasping it in an act of support.  
  
What man was lucky enough to have Isabel by his side?  
  
Alex looked at the man. He seemed familiar. His hair was dark, without a trace of grey. Isabel probably used her powers to keep the man young and preserved, just like she was. His face was well defined, and he actually looked a lot like Jim Valenti had years ago. The eyes….the eyes were a penetrating blue, a relentless blue that someone could get lost in.  
  
And then it hit him.  
  
Kyle.  
  
The man at Isabel's side, holding her hand, wearing a matching gold wedding band, was Kyle Valenti. Kyle was the one that got to kiss her lips. Kyle was the one that got to hear her laugh. Kyle was her husband.   
  
What were they visiting Jill for?  
  
What connection did Isabel and Kyle have to Jill?  
  
Isabel reached out to touch Jill's black eye.  
  
"Mom…it's nothing more than what Casey has had a million times since Kindergarten."  
  
Mom.  
  
Alex's head whirled, and he retreated to the safety of his room…of the closet.  
  
It all made sense now.  
  
He had been so blind. How could he not see it?   
Jill Diane Valenti.  
  
Valenti. Kyle's last name. She said the Sheriff was her cousin- but she must have meant the current Sheriff, the one who had come last night.   
  
Diane. Isabel's mother was named Diane.  
  
She could sing. Despite his many failings, and his lack of artistic talent, Kyle could sing.  
  
Jill had Kyle's eyes…the ones that drew you in and trapped you…so that you didn't know which way to go, or what to do…because you were in that person's power..  
  
She even acted like Isabel.  
  
The stargazing book. The one that he gave Isabel so long ago.  
  
How could he be so stupid?  
  
How could he be so blind?  
  
How could he have allowed this to happen? He was supposed to be smart, but maybe all the years alone in the house had caused cobwebs to form in his brain.  
  
The truth was disgustingly clear.  
  
Kyle married Isabel.  
  
Jill was their daughter.  
  
And despite all the laws of physics and time, he had started to fall in love with her.  
  
***  
  
Alex was silent. She couldn't figure it out. Alex had been anything BUT silent since she met him.  
  
Had it only been a few days? It seemed like she had known Alex forever, like he was a part of her. Jill couldn't wait to just talk to her mother. If anybody could understand, it would be her mother. Her mother who understood what it was like to be different. Her mother who knew what love was like.  
  
It wasn't that she didn't love her Dad- she did. Her Dad was a great friend, and he spoiled her and her siblings beyond belief. But her Dad was….well…goofy.  
  
He couldn't understand girl talk.  
  
Jill dug in her purse and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. "You don't have to be silent, you know" she wrote.  
  
"I know. I just don't feel like talking." Alex said, looking out the window.  
  
"Did I do anything wrong?" Jill said, fearing that Alex regretted the kiss…  
  
"NO" Alex shouted. "I just need to think, ok?"  
  
"FINE!" Jill said out loud.  
  
"Jill?" Her parents exclaimed simultaneously.  
  
Jill groaned. It would be so much easier for everybody if Alex wasn't a ghost. "Yeah. I was just thinking about…stuff."  
  
Her parents exchanged a glance, a glance in which they really exchanged a thousand words.  
  
Jill wanted to sink down on the floorboards of the car. Casey was good at making up spur of the moment lies. Her father always claimed that it was a De Luca trait.  
  
  
***

  
They pulled up in front of the Crashdown. Everyone felt uneasy.  
  
Kyle thought about how much this place had once meant to them….back before everything went bad. The Crashdown had been their meeting place, their hangout…their safe place. And now, years later, he was scared to go in a restaurant where he ate at least once a week for the first nineteen years of his life.  
  
Isabel was remembering faces. Faces that she would never see again. Faces she wanted to see dearly, faces that she never wanted to see again. Alex- her first love, the guy that taught her to open up, and not be afraid of her human side. In a way, she owed him everything. Without his influence, she never would gotten know Kyle, and fall in love with him…she never would have had children. And Tess…who she had trusted. Tess screwed them all up so much…and Max. She missed her brother everyday. He died too young.  
  
Alex felt terrible. The Crashdown…it had been home. How many hours had he spent goofing around with Liz and Maria, watching them work or get into trouble? The Crashdown was part of his past- a reminder of what he couldn't have…what he once had. His friends had all grown up…and married…moved on without him. How awkward would this be- as if things could get worse after that horrific car ride. He was in love with the daughter of the woman who had once been her girlfriend.  
  
Jill was sulking. Alex was acting weird, her parents just showed up…it was as if her life was stuck on fast forward…who knew what was coming around the corner? She had a feeling that things would not be all smooth sailing from here on in…  
  
She was right.

Jill sat down at the table, across from her parents.  
  
How crazy was it for actual aliens to eat at an alien themed restaurant?  
  
"Do you know what you want?" Kyle asked Isabel.  
  
"I haven't even looked at the menu."  
  
"How many years did we all eat here?"  
  
"I haven't been here in ages! The menu could have changed."  
  
"The Crashdown?" Kyle asked incredulously.   
  
"Nothing is permanent, Kyle."  
  
"Oh, now who's quoting Buddha?"  
  
Isabel just laughed. "How did I ever get stuck with you?"  
  
"You were attracted to my tight, firm, butt."  
  
"DAD!" Jill squeaked. "Could you be anymore embarrassing?"  
  
"Do you want me to try?"  
  
"NO!" Jill squeaked.  
  
Isabel patted her husband's shoulder. "Why don't you go over and talk to Jeff? Didn't Liz give you some message to tell him?"  
  
Kyle got the underlying message that Isabel was trying to communicate- "Get Lost".  
  
Alex sighed with relief, and made his way over to the jukebox in the corner. This was a new addition, but maybe he could put on some music to free his troubled mind.  
  
"So, what's going on with you?" Isabel was never one to beat around the bush. She wanted direct answers, and she went for them.  
Jill sighed. "Nothing much. I'm just adjusting…it hasn't even been a week yet- It's just different being on my own.." As she talked, Jill traced an invisible pattern on the table top.   
  
"I've always been able to tell when you're keeping a secret, Jillian. It didn't work when you were three, and it won't work now. Tell me."  
  
Jill sighed. She wanted to talk to her mom so desperately, to tell her how she felt. The feelings, feelings unlike anything she'd felt before, were enveloping her and changing her. Jill wanted to tell her Mom about Alex, about how he made her feel, about him saving her life…but it all just seemed unreal. Jill was afraid to speak the words- could anyone believe that she was in love with a ghost? A ghost. Her mother was a wise woman, and even aliens have limits to what they will believe.  
  
"Mom, how did you know you were in love?"  
  
Isabel swallowed. A loaded question. Jill never took the easy way out, just like her father. She'd keep digging until she found the truth. She took a deep breath.  
  
"Love is a very special feeling…"  
  
"We had that talk with Brett." Jill sighed. "Mom…what was it like the first time you were in love? With Daddy? How did you know?"  
  
"Your father was not my first love." Isabel said in a low voice.  
  
"What? You were both so young…and you love…each other." Jill mumbled, suddenly feeling like a child expecting monsters to come out from underneath the bed.  
  
"Jill.." Isabel said, reaching for her daughters hand. "I love your father, and you kids very much. But Kyle was not my first love. My first love…he died young. Too young. It was all part of a game, an elaborate game that we were all in involved in.. there is a price when you love someone, you don't know if they will be safe or not.."  
  
Jill shook her head. "So how did you find Daddy?"  
  
"I've known your father as long as I can remember. When you live in a small town, you're generally in the same classes and circles from the time you start school until you graduate. When we were younger, we never quite got along. But after…afterwards…your father was my lifeline. That whole year….was tough for everyone, Jill. We were both depressed, both lonely, and somehow we found each other. First, he was a friend, and then he got to be something more…I wasn't looking for love…especially that soon…" Isabel's eyes teared up. "I'd love to talk more honey..but I…I…I need to go to the restroom…We'll talk more later."  
  
Jill was shaken. She'd always believed that first love was the purest love, the love that you couldn't let go of…she'd always thought of her parents as high school sweethearts that stuck together through thick and thin…and… her mother was almost crying…the only other time she'd seen her mother cry was when Uncle Max died…to see her cry now unnerved Jill greatly.  
  
A scratch on the table, a jagged scratch, gained Jill's attention. Jill ran her finger over the scratch.  
  
_* "You look beautiful, Isabel." Alex said, escorting his date to the table.  
  
"Alex! You said that already." Isabel said with a laugh.  
  
"It's still true!" He said with a laugh. "I'm glad I decided to come."  
  
"I can't thank you enough."  
  
"Just being with You, Isabel, is enough." *_  
  
  
Jill pulled away, as if she were stung. The images whirled through her mind, spinning at light speed. And then everything made sense.  
  
Alex…her Alex…Alex Whitman had died in 2001.  
  
Her parents graduated from high school in 2002, left Roswell along with Liz, Uncle Max, Aunt Maria, and Uncle Michael. They'd never looked back.  
  
Her parents lost a friend, a good friend in 2001.  
  
That friend had been her mother's boyfriend.  
  
Alex was that friend.  
  
Alex had been her mother's boyfriend.  
  
Her mother had loved Alex.  
  
Alex called her mother beautiful.  
  
Where did that leave her?  
  
In love with a ghost that was still in love with her mother?  
  
She needed to run.   
  
She needed to get out of that room.   
  
She needed to get away.  
  
Jill went over to the counter, where her Dad was talking to an older man. "Daddy, I need to take a run." Her dad nodded, understanding Jill's need to release her troubles physically. Both Isabel and himself went on walks to clear their minds, and the trait had been passed down to Jill as well.  
  
She hit the sidewalks of Roswell with pounding force.   
  
She ran until she could run no more. She was a small distance outside of Roswell, but far enough away that she could be on her own. The town was off in the distance, and only the desert surrounded her.  
  
"Do you mind? You could have given me a warning before you just ran off!" Alex shouted, grabbing her arm.  
  
"I don't have to answer to you! Get your hands off me!" Jill yelled. "I just couldn't stand it in there..with her and you …and knowing that you were…"  
  
"Calm down, Jill! I can't understand you!"  
  
"You called her beautiful!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I saw you."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"You called her beautiful, Alex. My mother. You loved my mother, and she loved you. I don't understand…I don't understand…"  
  
"Jill…"  
  
"I don't understand why the first time I fell in love is with a ghost who is still in love with my mother!" She spat.


	7. Finding Beautiful

"What?" Alex said, shaking his head. "You love me?"  
  
"Alex!" Jill cried with tears in her eyes. "Did I just make an even bigger fool of myself? You still love my mother!"  
"I didn't say that!"  
  
"But you didn't deny it either. You loved her."  
  
"Yes, I loved her. I had a crush on Isabel from the time I was young enough to realize that boys and girls were not the same. And I loved her from the time she let down her walls and let people in, let people see the treasure that she truly is."  
  
"This is supposed to make me feel better?"  
  
"I'm a ghost, not a superhero. I'm human, Jill, and I can't figure out everything that you need, or want. I don't know what to say. I hate to see you cry, and I hate to be the cause of your tears, but I'm at a loss for what to say. I don't know, Jill. I don't know."  
  
"So where does that leave us?"  
  
"I have no idea."  
  
"You don't know what to do? Neither do I. Who would believe me? I'm in love with a ghost, the ghost of my mother's old boyfriend. For goodness sake, ghosts aren't supposed to exist. It's called fiction, for crying out loud!"  
  
"The truth is stranger than fiction."  
  
"You're telling me."  
  
Jill's eyes glared at Alex. "Would you do me a favor and just shut up?"  
  
***  
  
The atmosphere in the house was, to say the best, hostile.  
  
Isabel refused to go back in the house. Instead, she took the car keys and drove to the retirement home, to see her parents.  
  
Kyle was sitting on the couch, reading the file folder that Jill and Alex had left there the night before. His eyes snapped to the door as Jill walked in the door, drenched in sweat.  
  
"Hi honey." He said, looking at his daughter. "I think you better go take a shower."  
  
"Awww…Dad, do I have to?" She said with a gleam in her eyes.  
  
"Yes! Now march, Scooter." Kyle said with a chuckle.  
  
Alex stayed downstairs, looking at Kyle. He still couldn't see how…how Kyle and Isabel had gotten together in the first place.  
  
Kyle started walking around the room, examining the contents. He paused at the mantle, where the picture of Alex was displayed.   
  
"You know…I wish I could talk to you, Alex. I miss you, believe it or not."  
  
Alex raised his eyebrows. If Kyle was going to give him a post-mortum apology, he'd sit down and enjoy it.  
  
"If…if you could see me now, you probably wouldn't believe it..you wouldn't believe any of us, Alex…what we've become. Your death…your death hit all of us, and broadsided us. We were all so innocent then…we didn't have any idea of what was ahead of us. When you died, we all became adults. And…I was there when it happened…when Tess…she mindwarped me. I carried your body out to the car, thinking it was luggage. I wish I was stronger…I wish I could have…Alex…I'm sorry. It's too little, too late, but it's all I can say."  
  
Alex was amazed. He expected Kyle's dialogue to be self-righteous, but he could see genuine regret in the guy's face.  
  
"You'd probably wonder how I ended up with Isabel. Your girlfriend…it almost seems like something out of a romance novel, doesn't it? I still can't figure out what I did to be lucky enough to wake up beside her each morning, and to see her smile. I just don't know. I have four children- three precious girls- Jill- she lives here now, Robin, and Tara, and one little boy- Max Alexander- named after our two best friends who are gone now." Kyle's voice cracked. "Isabel…things were bad for us after we found out about Tess. She left- pregnant with Max's child…yeah, they actually got together- I told you that everything went wrong after you left…we were all lost, but no one more than my father and I- we were on autopilot…trying to rid our lives of Tess, item by item, memory by memory. Amy helped Dad recover…but no one was able to reach me. And then…Isabel came by one day with some dish her mother sent over- a frittata, or something like that I think, and Isabel stormed into my room, turned off the Counting Crows, and got me to shower, put on new clothes, and get out of the house. She taught me to smile again, and she let me cry. She was my strength…she helped my heart heal. I loved Tess; but it's nothing compared to Isabel…she loved me back."  
  
Alex wished he could hug Kyle, to let him knew that he understood.  
  
"I never told you that I was jealous of you, did I?"  
  
Alex shook his head "NO" as if Kyle could actually see him.  
  
"You were strong, Alex. Always so strong. You dealt with a mindwarp, for what- months? I was only mindwarped for a short time, and I'm still dealing with the effects of it- years later. In the cave, you were so ready to die…not afraid of death. I've faced death, and it still scares me."  
  
Kyle Valenti was a good man, Alex decided. The best kind of man. Honorable.  
  
***  
  
"Let me brush your hair."  
  
"Mom?" Jill said, spinning around in her robe.  
  
"Oh, don't go acting so old. You're still my little girl, no matter how old you are."  
  
Isabel grabbed the brush and pulled it through the golden strands. She raised her hand and used her power to dry her daughter's hair.  
  
"Remember the time you had to do that, because I was almost late for school?"  
  
"Weren't you late?"  
  
"I would have been if Dad didn't take a couple of illegal turns."  
  
"I am so blessed to have my family." Isabel said. "I didn't realize how much."  
  
"You were so freaked out at first because this was Alex's house, right? This was the house of your old boyfriend. And you've never gotten over him."  
  
"I've gotten over him." Isabel said as she continued to brush. "Alex will always be a part of me, I can't deny that. But I've gotten over him, and I've moved on."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Life goes on, Jill, whether you let it or not." Isabel sighed. "I took his death hard. I used to go out to the football field- they had a memorial service set up for him there- it probably would have been better if they had it in the computer lab- that was his home- but I used to go and stare, as if he would just appear back there. Obviously, that didn't work. But one morning, someone got me to smile again- it was your father. He brought me a cup of coffee, and got me involved in a plan to get back at your Uncle Max."  
  
"I thought that they were best friends."  
  
"Ahh…but you don't know how much they disliked each other at first. It took many, many, many years for them to become friends."  
  
"So what are you saying Mom?"  
  
"I realized a few things, Jill, when I was visiting my parents. I was afraid to come in this house, because this was Alex's house. I didn't want to fully admit he was gone, as if he were still alive in one center of my brain. But I can be stronger than that. I do miss Alex, but I can't live in the past. The past is only a road that we take to the present. So don't dwell on the past, Jill. It will only bring you pain. And you, my dear, are strong enough to face the future."  
  
Jill looked up at her Mom and smiled.  
  
She knew that things were complicated- but in the end they would turn out fine.  
  
  
***  
The next day, Jill's parents left. Isabel needed to get back to her fifth grade students, and Kyle needed to ready his football team for the opening game of the season next week.  
  
"You know that I'm never farther away then a phone call." Isabel said, hugging Jill. "And I can come back again soon.."  
  
"We love you sweetheart." Kyle said, giving his daughter a big hug. "I am so proud of you, following in the Valenti tradition. You wear that uniform proudly, dear."  
  
"I will, Daddy." Jill responded, hugging her Dad.  
  
"We'll call when we get home." Isabel said as she stepped in the car. "Eat well, take care of yourself, and try to eat something besides pizza for a change."  
  
Jill stood in the doorway until the car carrying her parents was nothing but a speck on the horizon. Her eyes began to tear.  
  
"Hey…" Alex said, noticing her digging her nails into the wooden door frame. "It's gonna be ok."  
  
"Oh Alex." Jill sighed, and collapsed against him.  
  
Alex began to chuckle.   
  
"What?"  
  
"I was just thinking."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Do you know how many times I've been used as a human hankie?"  
  
Jill gave him a blank look. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Growing up with your two best friends being girls, you learn to be in touch with the feminine side of your emotions, and you learn how to deal with female emotions."  
  
"And THAT'S a problem?"  
  
"The female sex is a mystery males will never get. And as I was saying, with Maria and Liz being my best friends, you wouldn't believe how many times I was used as a shoulder to cry on?"  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Maria ruined one of my best dress shirts once with her mascara."  
  
"Maria? Liz?" Jill said, her ponytail bobbing up and down. "What were their last names?  
  
"You know Liz and Maria? What about Michael? Or Max?" It had never occurred to Alex that Jill would know the rest of his friends. He remembered little fragments of conversation between Kyle and Isabel…but he never heard any of them mention anything specifically.   
  
"I have an Aunt Maria…she's actually my aunt, because Dad is her stepsister… Maria Guerin…"  
  
"Michael actually married Maria?" Alex exclaimed. "I never thought they'd stop arguing long enough to say "I do".  
  
"Yeah, Uncle Mike."  
  
"He goes by Mike now?"  
  
Jill shook her head.  
  
"So?"  
  
"The Michael I knew would have drop kicked anyone that even attempted to call him Mike."  
  
Jill laughed. "Now that would be an interesting sight to see."  
  
"Does Maria really have him that whipped?"   
  
"Whipped?"  
  
"You know…Whoopa.." Alex made a noise imitating a whip.  
  
Jill laughed. "I think we're experiencing a generation gap."  
  
Alex shrugged. "What about Liz? Did she go to Harvard and then marry Max?"  
Jill shook her head. "Uncle Max never married. He was a loner, except when he would come over and play with Casey, Robin, and I. I was little when he died…I don't remember that much about him…except that he always seemed sad.."  
  
Alex swallowed, his throat feeling like it was made of razors. "How did he die?"  
  
"He was looking for a way back to the home planet, and somehow…it malfunctioned, and he died. I remember the white flowers at the funeral, and My parents crying. I was sad…"  
  
Alex reached out and touched Jill's hand. The familiar tingly feeling was back, the one caused just by Jill's touch.  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Jill shrugged. "It's ok. Loss is a part of life…I guess….I never realized that…my brother got his middle name…from you."  
  
"If he's anything like you, then I'm honored."  
  
Jill smiled, a radiant smile that made Alex smile right back at her.  
  
"And Liz?"   
  
"Aunt Liz…she married Uncle Sean sometime around the time that my parents got married…"  
  
"Uncle Sean?"  
  
"Sean De Luca."  
  
"Maria's cousin? I could never stand him."  
  
"Not too many people could. He got arrested when Jett was very little, and he went to jail. He got out on parole, when we were twelve, but he was in a car accident and died."  
  
"Jett? Wasn't he your old boyfriend?"  
  
Jill's body tensed. "We never officially went out, but who knows what might have been."  
  
"Yeah, who knows."  
  
"Do you want to watch TV?"  
  
Alex shrugged. "Sure, why not?"  
  
"Oh, look! A "Sydney" rerun!" Jill said, turning up the volume.  
  
"I can't believe it! Brian just broke up with Sheli for the new girl, Katie? And does that guy have a mullet?"  
  
"Is that a raddish?" Alex questioned, looking at a small object off to the side of the screen.  
  
As the program progressed, Jill stretched out on the couch. Soon, her head was in Alex's lap, and he was rubbing her head.  
  
After repeats from the 25th season of "The Simpons" Alex pressed the mute button.  
  
"Jill?"   
  
"Yeah?" Her voice was soft, and shrouded in the realms of sleepiness.  
  
"I was thinking about what you said. About who knows what might have been. I can sit here all day, wondering what things would have been like if I didn't die. And it won't do me any good. I can't go backward, but I can appreciate today."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"I don't know how this came to be…or why this happened…but all I know is that when you are around, everything seems right. It seems improbable, and impossible, but somehow, I've fallen in love with you. I know I'm too old, and too dead, and you're too young for me…but the one good thing that has come out of all of this is you. I love you, and I'm not afraid to say it."  
  
There was no response from Jill.  
  
"Jill?"  
  
He looked down, and saw that Jill had fallen asleep on his lap, but with a smile on her face.  
  
Alex sighed, and pulled the light throw blanket over her. " You're beautiful, Jill." He said, and closed his eyes.


	8. Heartbeat

"Wake up, morning glory."  
  
"Uhhh….go away."  
  
"You've got to go to work."  
  
"Don't wanna work."  
  
"Are you going to play sick?"  
  
"Sounds like a good idea."  
  
"C'mon Jill…time to wakeup…" Alex said, leaning over and tickling her.   
  
Jill shrieked and laughed, and rolled off the couch in an attempt to get away from Alex. She ended up pulling him down with her, with Alex pinning her to the floor.  
  
"Alex!" she laughed, "Are you going to get up?"  
  
"I'm not planning on it."  
  
"I've got to go to work!"  
  
"I thought you weren't going to work…"  
  
"Alex!"  
  
Her words were cut off as Alex covered her lips with his. Once again, Jill felt like she was being swept away—into a universe where only the two of them existed- until other images began to flood her mind- pictures, glimpses of a teenage Isabel…  
  
"I can't." She said, pulling away and getting up. "Alex, we're just too different."  
  
"Don't you think I know that? But I don't care. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I know that there has to be some reason I'm here now. And all I know is that when I think of you…everything seems right."  
  
"Alex" Jill said, rushing into his arms. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me."  
  
***  
  
"Jill, you take this room, and I'll check the bedrooms." Rob addressed her. They had been called to investigate a house, a rental property that had been empty for awhile. The owner had checked out the house that morning to find someone living there. He had scared the person away, but was afraid he or she would come back.  
  
Jill nodded, and began searching around the room. It seemed to be a normal house, albeit one that had been empty for awhile. For some reason, the house seemed familiar to her…almost like home.  
  
She went to open the closet, and a wave of images flowed over her.  
  
  
_* There was a dark haired boy, putting his hand over the closet door. It was glowing.  
  
"What are you doing? He's an FBI agent."_  
  
_Jill turned towards the voice. It was her father, or a teenage version of her father. And the other boy, that had to be Uncle Max…even though the strong teenager had very little in common with the haggard man she remembered._  
  
_"If anything happens to my father, I swear I will kill you myself." *_  
  
Jill shook her head. That was too weird. Why did she get a flash of her father, here, and her Uncle Max? It didn't make sense.  
  
"Are you ok?" Alex asked, rushing to her side.  
  
"Just a little…dizzy…it's almost like déjà vu." Jill muttered, and continued her search.  
  
And then she found it.  
  
It was a small book, one that looked like it was made out of some kind of stone or metal. It fascinated Jill, completely grabbed her attention. There was a cut out symbol on the front, and she ran her fingers over it.  
  
_* Clouds, clouds, clouds. Clouds covered a world in green.  
  
Symbols that should be familiar, laid out on the ground in front of her.. symbols that she knew meant something, only she didn't know what.  
  
A square.  
  
Tears. *_  
  
Alex watched as Jill seemed hyptnotized. "JILL!" he cried, growing paniced. "JILL!"  
  
The vision continued for Jill, now with both audio and images, some of people she knew, and others that she didn't.  
_  
"So ancient languages…what does that have to do with our English assignment?" It was her father again, using that same sly voice he always used when he wanted some alone time with her mother_.  
  
_"Absolutely nothing." The girl wasn't her mother. It was someone that Jill had never even seen.  
  
Her Dad went in for the kill. "So what do you say we start speaking the most ancient language known to man?"_  
  
Jill rolled her eyes. That was such a lame line.  
  
_"I think it's on the top shelf. Would you mind helping me out? I've almost got it."  
  
"So what language is this?"  
  
"It's a lost language."  
  
"So noone will mind if we don't find it." He waggled his eyebrows.  
  
"Time to go."  
  
"But we just got here." *  
_  
Images continued to flow through Jill. More with the girl, some with her father, and then some with Alex. Her eyes grew wide.   
  
Jill threw the book down. Her eyes opened wide. "Alex…" She said calmly, before fainting into his arms.  
  
***  
  
Alex sat there, stunned, cradling Jill in his arms. What happened to her? What effected her so much?  
  
He looked down and saw the book in her hands.  
  
The book.  
  
He'd spent so much time with that book, he could still remember the sequence of the symbols. He could still remember the feel of the book under his fingertips, the book made of metal that looked smooth, but felt rough.  
  
What in the heck was the book doing here?  
  
Alex heard Rob's footsteps approaching, and he laid Jill down gently on the floor. He wasn't sure how much about the Czechoslovakian heritage Rob knew. And he definetly didn't want to expose his secret ghosthood either.  
  
Something about this place seemed familiar. The room was bare, and dust was gathered in the corners.  
  
But the wallpaper. The wallpaper. The wallpaper that seemed like it was picked out by a blind man. He'd always hated that wallpaper.  
  
The Valenti house. Kyle's house. The house where the Sheriff lived, until he married Amy.  
  
The house where he had died.  
  
How could he not notice it before hand? He'd been over to this house every day when he was little, and then again once things had changed. It was a lot more run down, more run down than the overworked Sheriff and his son had ever let it get. But this was not their house anymore. It was a house of memories, as dead as the flowers in the flower bed outside.  
  
Something was going on. The house. The book. His existence. It was related somehow. It had to be.  
  
But how?  
  
Rob came into the room, and then rushed over to Jill's side. "Jill! Are you ok?"  
  
She sat up, slowly, as if awakening from a dream.  
  
"Yeah, I must have bumped my head. I'll be ok."  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"I'm sure."  
  
"The place checked out clean, but I'm gonna come back here later tonight and check it out."  
  
"Do you want me to stay here until you get back? You can go get whatever you need to get done at the office, and I'll keep an eye and see if the trespasser comes back."  
  
"Sounds like a good idea to me. And I'll tell you what…I'll bring you dinner…paid for by the department."  
  
Jill smiled. "It's a deal, boss."  
  
Alex remained silent until the patrol car left the driveway. "How could you do that, Jill?"  
  
"How could I do what? I'm doing my job!"

  
Alex started to pace, and to ramble. "We can't stay here….I can't stay here….I died here. I can't stay here!"  
  
"You died in a car crash, Alex. They thought it was a suicide." Jill stated calmly. "I read the newspaper articles."  
  
"Excuse me, Jill, you have no idea what this is all about! I know how I died, I was there! You weren't anything more than an egg in your mother's body."  
  
"I'm sorry I wasn't born at the same time as you! I can't play Scooby Doo, I have a job to do. If I'm so ignorant, tell me, Alex. Tell me. Tell me what happened."  
  
"I was killed by an alien, Jill. Being that you're half alien, I didn't think that you needed to know."  
  
"If we are going to have any kind of relationship, I need to know everything, Alex. And what do you mean? I know that Uncle Mike…or Mom…or Uncle Max…as desperate as he was to get home…none of them would have killed you…they were your friends…right?"  
  
Alex shook his head. "It was not your mother, or Michael, or Max. There were four in the group…the Royal four."  
  
"Who is the fourth?"  
  
"I am." A voice sounded from the door.  
  
"Tess…" Alex said in a whisper. "What in the heck are you doing here?"

Jill threw up the shield that her Uncle Max taught her to project so long ago. She felt safer for a second, confident in her powers. But if this woman….if this woman was an alien, a full alien, one capable of killing Alex…she could be perfectly capable of killing her as well.  
  
Something strange happened to Alex when Jill's shield enveloped him. At first he felt all tingly, as if every nerve fiber in his body was suddenly…alive. Then he started to feel heavy, almost as if he weighed a ton. Everything in the room grew brighter…Jill, Tess…until….everything was solid…he could feel his heart beating…  
  
Tess stared at the scene before her. She had finally found the girl…the girl who could be her key to setting things right…HIS daughter…and she reacted immediately in fear. She threw up a shield, a bright emerald green, just like Max's. And then the most miraculous thing happened…Alex appeared behind her. Alex. Alex who should have been dead for going on twenty something years. 

  
Jill turned when she heard him hit the floor. She could hear his voice, and see his face, but she had never heard Alex move. He had scared her a couple of times, for his ghostly body made no sounds. But she heard a thump, directly behind her. She turned around, and she saw Alex.   
  
"Jill!" He exclaimed, and grabbed her hand.   
  
His hand felt different to her. It felt warm. He guided her hand to his chest.  
  
"Do you feel it?" He said smiling like a maniac?  
  
Her heart beat to match the frantic pace of his.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. Choices

"How…how….how did this happen?" Jill whispered as she felt his chest move, his heart pound. "You….you….you…were dead."  
  
"I don't know." He said with amazement. "I don't know. When you put up the shield..it was as if…as if…I was becoming whole again."  
  
"He was never dead." Tess said, leaning on the post of the door for support. "All this time…and…it never…"  
  
"Tess" Alex hissed, standing up and turning around, putting himself in front of Jill. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came home." She said, in a voice that seemed more like a lost little child than a ruthless killer. "This is my home."  
  
"No." He said, his fists clenched. "You gave up, everything….everyone…so that you, and only you can get back home. You had no regrets about hurting me or anyone. You wanted to go home, and you did. So don't pretend that this is home…it's not."  
  
"How can you say that I have no regrets? For goodness sake…there is so much that you don't know…you don't know how much I have fought and struggled to get back here. How much I sacrificed." She said, stepping closer.  
  
Jill gasped. The woman, Tess…she was the girl in the vision, the vision from the book. The girl her Dad flirted with at the library…she was the same girl that had killed Alex. Tess had to be the same age as her parents…but she looked much older. Her hair was ragged, her eyes sallow. Jill could tell that this woman had known pain…she could see it in her eyes.  
  
"I lost my life, Tess. My future." Alex snapped. "What is a bigger sacrifice is that?"  
  
"That's what I've come back to fix."  
  
"I wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for you."  
  
"It wasn't me."  
  
"Tess…how can you say that?" He yelled. "I was there. I know what you did?"  
  
She shook her head. "Do you know what it is like to be taken over completely? To loose yourself to some greater power?"  
  
"I think that just about covers the mindwarp."  
  
Tess shut her eyes, as if searching for the right words to say. "Alex…when Nasedo died…he didn't die. He reversed the powers of the healing stones somehow, and his energy was channeled into my body. At first, I didn't even know that he was there…he was silent, except for times when I thought he was hallucinating. And then…there were dreams, Alex…terrible dreams. I couldn't sleep, I could barely even function…and he began to take over more and more. Sometimes I would be myself, and other times I would be his puppet. By the time I went to New York with Max, I was virtually taken over all the time. But when I was mindraped by Nicolas, I he didn't have as much control over me anymore. I could be myself most of the time."  
  
"What about the mindwarp? That happened after Thanksgiving."  
  
"Nasedo…he struck up a deal with the other doubles…he would take them home with them when he left, if they would deliver Ava to him. They found her, and he bribed her as well. Ava did all of the mindwarping before Vegas…I swear."  
  
"Vegas?"  
  
"That was the last time I was myself. When we all got back to Roswell, they were waiting for me. They used their powers on me…and weakened me to a point where Nasedo could take over. I saw everything that happened, everything that I did…but I couldn't do anything. Nasedo's power…his force…was too strong. I ended up on Antar, in a prison, waiting to give birth first, before they killed me. I was crossed, Alex. I was betrayed. Nasedo did anything and everything he could to get home. He told me that he loved me like a daughter…but now I can see all he wanted was a way home."  
  
"How do I know that you aren't lying?" He scoffed.  
  
"You have to trust me." She said, on the verge of tears. "I know that you don't want to trust me Alex, but you must. You must."  
  
"That's something I can't do." He said, pulling Jill out the door with him.  
  
Jill snapped out of Alex's grip, and reentered the room. She reached for Tess' hand.  
  
The connection was instantaneous.  
  
Images, faces, sounds, flowed through her mind.  
  
Alex ran in and pushed Jill away.  
  
"Alex, she's telling the truth." Jill said, grabbing his hand. "I can tell. It's the truth."  
  
"Jill…she's powerful. She can manipulate the truth..she can manipulate what you see…"  
  
"But she can't manipulate her heart, Alex. Not even an alien is capable of that."  
  
  
***  
"You don't know what you're talking about." He muttered, glaring at Tess.  
  
"Anyone can be good, and anybody can be bad. Anybody can act, Alex. But the heart doesn't lie. What Tess is saying is true. She deserves a chance, so let's listen to what she has to say."  
  
Alex rubbed his head, trying to absorb all of this into his brain. "I'll listen to what she has to say, but not anything else."  
  
Jill grabbed his hand. The feeling of his warm flesh sent goose bumps up her spine. "It will be ok, Alex."  
  
Tess came over towards them. "Do you mind if I sit down?"  
  
Jill shook her head "No", and Tess sat down.   
  
"I've been looking for you, Jill."  
  
"Me?" she exclaimed shaking her head. "What do you mean?"  
  
Tess took a deep breath, and stared up at the ceiling, as if in a silent prayer. "When I arrived back on Antar, our home planet, I was immediately taken in front of Khivar. Then they took me to some medical base, and Nasedo's personality was stripped from mine. They put me in solitary confinement, and scheluled me for execution. I was kept alive only because of the child I was carrying- Khivar made that perfectly clear when he came to taunt me everyday."   
  
"Child?" Alex asked puzzled.  
  
"It was Max's. The deal that Nasedo worked out for his routine involved him returning with a heir to the throne- a child of one of the royal four. It didn't matter whether it was Max's and my child, or Michael's and Isabel's- but Khivar needed to be the guardian of the heir, so he could legitimately gain control of the throne and become possessor of the granalith."  
  
"What happened?" Jill replied breathlessly.  
  
"One of my guards was on the side against Khivar. He got me out to safety."  
  
"And the child?"  
  
"I don't know exactly where he is, but he must be safe. One of the alliance members came here and transported him to Earth. He'd probably be in his twenties by now, I guess."  
  
"But why were you looking for me?"  
  
The book levitated off the floor and snapped into Tess' hands. "I am looking for you because of this."  
  
"There was nothing about her in the book. I translated it. I know." Alex said, grabbing it away form her.  
  
"Look at it, Alex. It's not the same book."  
  
He opened the book. Tess was right. "Are you sure that this isn't just a mindwarp?"  
  
"I know you don't trust me, Alex, but hear me out. This book is the true book that was sent with us. And this book talks about a prophecy, a promise…of a second chance."  
  
"Huh?" Alex and Jill said in unison.  
  
"Things can be made right. If we can go back in time, back to just after we got back from Vegas, then things would be fixed. I need someone to go back in time and free me from Nasedo before he gains ultimate power."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Jill." Tess replied. "She's the only one that can do it."  
  
"Why me?"   
  
"You're half alien, Jill."  
  
"I'm not the only one…"  
  
"But you are the strongest. Not only did you inherit powers from your mother, but you have benefited from the residual powers your father gained when Max healed him. Your powers are growing stronger, Jill. Since you've come to Roswell, I have felt your powers grow."  
  
"What happens if I don't go? What happens if I say no?"  
  
Tess shrugged. "Right away, probably nothing. But even as we speak, Khivar is preparing for another attack…he'll try to find my son, and turn both of you- or all of your cousins and siblings to his side."  
  
"We would never turn away from our parents."  
  
"Power can be alluring. But I pray that you'll never have that struggle."  
  
"Tess?" Alex said, looking up from his spot on the floor. "If Jill went back in time- to right after Vegas, then I wouldn't die."  
  
Jill's face grew pale. "And I might not exist."  
  
"Tess, how can you ask her to do this? How can you ask her to give up her future for you to be happy?"  
  
Jill sat up abruptly. "Alex, you've got to get Tess out of here. If Rob comes back and finds her here…"  
  
Alex nodded, picking up on her cue. "Give me the keys. I'll take her back home."  
  
Tess looked panicked. "I'm not leaving. I'm safe here, and I am not leaving this house."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Alex said, the keys jangling in his hand.  
  
"Because this is the only home I ever had. And I don't want to let it go."  
  


***  
  
Jill and Alex were cuddling together on the couch. Jill loved the way she felt in his arms- he held her as if she was a precious jewel. She felt safe, and the gentle rythym of his heartbeat kept her mind off of Tess' request. Tess was upstairs taking a shower, and they were spending the few moments alone, just enjoying being together.  
  
"Look at that…now Sheli's making out with Brendan!" Jill said, tracing lazy circles on Alex's chest.  
  
"She sure got over Brian fast…"  
  
"Yeah, but at least Allie and Jason and Tracy and Nick have their acts together."  
  
"True. But it's only television, right?"  
  
"Yeah." Jill said, growing silent. "But what if it were different?"  
  
"What are you getting at?"  
  
"What if Jason never got up the courage to ask Allie out? What if Colin never died and Rosie never went off to college?"  
  
"You aren't thinking about Tess' idea are you?"  
  
"Well, yes.." She said, sitting up nervously.  
  
"I won't let you do it, Jill. It's a stupid idea, and it wouldn't work. I won't have you sacrifice your life in vain."  
  
"It wouldn't be in vain. I could.."  
  
He cut her off. "Nobody could change everything. It's not your duty to save the world."  
  
"It's my decision."  
  
"No." She asserted. "Alex!"  
  
"I'm going for a walk. I'll be back later."  
"Alex!" She said, grabbing his wrist. "You can't."  
  
"I can, and I will."  
  
"Alex, what if someone who knew you saw you? Don't you think it would cause suspicion?"  
  
"You might be right." He growled.  
  
Jill placed her hand on his hair, and turned it a dark shade of auburn, and grew it down to his shoulders. She handed him her sunglasses. "Just don't talk to anyone, and you'll be fine."  
  
He slammed the door in response.  
  
She groaned when she saw the second episode of "Sydney" for that night starting with Sheli's usual introduction using the blackboard. "Awww…shut up." She said, grabbing the remote and turning off the television set.  
  
Jill turned her energy to unpacking the few boxes that had been neglected. One was the box of photos that her parents had delivered after she left them in Florida during the move.  
  
She liked looking at the pictures. It reminded her that she did belong, that she did have people who loved her. She was lucky.  
  
Each photo brought memories to mind, and Jill set them up on the bookshelves and the mantelpiece.  
  
Tess came downstairs and watched Jill at work.   
  
And then she picked up one framed photograph- and promptly dropped it.  
  
Jill turned around at the sound of breaking glass. "Is it ok?"  
  
Tess knelt down and picked up the picture. She used her powers and reformed the glass over the snapshot. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"No harm done." Jill said, putting the picture back at the exact spot and angle it was back at before.  
  
"You really are your mother's daughter." Tess said, observing Jill's perfectionism.  
  
"I've been told so. But I'm nowhere as bad as she is. Especially at Christmas time."  
  
Tess laughed at that. "Michael called her the Christmas Nazi."  
  
"Still does."  
  
"I just can't see your father going along with that level of insanity. He used to use the Christmas tree to dry his socks."  
  
"I think Mom threatened him within an inch of his equipment or something…No seriously, Dad really gets into Christmas…every year he searches for just the right gift to get Mom for Christmas…and he leaves her little clues…it's adorable."  
  
"Kyle always was adorable." Tess said, looking down at her feet, as she began to blush.  
  
Jill raised her eyebrows. "Just how well did you know my father?"  
  
"He was my best friend…for the time I was in Roswell. I moved in with the Sheriff and Kyle after Nasedo died…I didn't know that he was in my body then. We had an unique relationship…to say the least. If Nasedo hadn't been driven to greaten his own destiny…who knows what would have happened?  
  
"You loved him…you loved my father." Jill said, gazing into Tess' eyes.  
  
"I did…but that was a long time ago…I guess it wasn't meant to be."  
  
"Is this the whole reason for the mission you want to send me on? So that you can go back and be with my Dad…I would never exist…"  
  
Tess stood up, and started to pace around the room. "When I first started my mission…that was my goal. I wanted to get back to the normal teenage life that I hoped to lead…that is the reason I came back to Earth."  
  
"But something changed your mind?"  
  
"I was not sent back to this time frame. Instead, they sent me 20 years into the future- 20 years from now. The world- the universe was at war. I used one of the granolith crystals I had with me to get back here. I have one more crystal, and in order to save the world…I need your help, Jill. If there was a way to do this without breaking up your parents, or everyone, I would. But you are literally the last hope…Jill."  
  
Jill sat back down on her couch and grabbed a throw pillow.  
  
She didn't know what to do.  
  
  
  



	10. Relationships

  
Frustrated, Jill went upstairs. Alex still wasn't back, and she missed him. The fact that he could leave freely now scared Jill. He didn't need her anymore- that special link they had shared was severed, and Jill felt cold and alone.  
  
She attacked her room, or Alex's room…whichever way you wanted to look at it…Jill had let it get a LOT messier than her mother ever would have allowed.  
  
She picked up a pile of shirts and threw them in the closet.  
  
And out came a box of pictures. They spilled all over the floor.  
  
"Oh great" Jill muttered and bent down to pick up the pictures.  
  
The first was a photograph of everyone…her parents, Alex, Uncle Michael and Maria, Uncle Max, and Aunt Liz. They all looked so happy.  
  
She'd never seen her Dad that carefree again. He was a goofball, but he tended to keep a certain amount of himself hidden and held back…only her Mom knew the deepest secrets and trials he kept to himself.  
  
Aunt Liz was smiling. Liz always seemed halfway broken- as if something irreplaceable was missing in her heart. It was really bad when Max died…Maria and Isabel had to pratically dress her and lead her around. But Liz didn't look wistful then- she just looked YOUNG.  
  
They all were.  
  
This is was adolescence was supposed to be. Young and carefree, no consequences and lots of fun. Relationships, shopping, goofing off, not fighting for your life. Not burying your best friends.  
  
She had the opportunity to make her parents young again. She had the opportunity to put the sparkle in Liz's eyes, and to take the weight off of Maria's shoulder. She could give Alex back the time he had lost. She could give Max back his life.  
  
But in the process she would loose her life. If Alex never died, then her parents would not turn to each other for comfort and then fall in love. They wouldn't go to college, get married, and move to Florida. They wouldn't celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary on a cruise.  
  
The next picture was of her mother and Alex, at what Jill guessed was the prom.  
  
Touching the picture, she made her decision.  
  
***  
  
A noise startled Jill out of a deep sleep.  
  
It was Alex- or the mutated version of him she created. "You came back." She gasped.  
  
"I came back." He said, handing her a boquet of flowers. "Did you think I wasn't?"  
  
"I was worried."  
  
"We had a fight, Jill. It happens. I just don't want you to sacrifice yourself."  
  
"But what if it meant stopping the world from ending?"  
  
"Everything ends. There is a season for everything. You can't go around messing with the past without causing major damage."  
  
"I don't want to talk about this anymore, now, Alex. I'm sorry."  
  
"Me too. I love you."  
  
"I love you too. I love you so much it hurts, Alex. I felt like part of me was missing when you weren't here."  
  
"We are good together." He said, drawing her closer and kissing her all over her face and neck.  
  
"Love me." She whispered hoarsely. "Love me."  
  
***  
  
There was a knock on the door.  
  
"Not again." Jill groaned into Alex's chest. "What is it?" She called, covering herself with the sheet.  
  
"I made breakfast. Then we need to start getting ready for the project." Tess' voice called. "And have you seen Alex?"  
  
Jill sighed. "I'll be down in a little bit…and I'll tell Alex when I see him."  
  
"What was that?" Alex said, stretching out on the bed. "You aren't ashamed, are you, of what happened?"  
  
"No….I just don't want Tess knowing everything, Alex. I like to have a little privacy."  
  
"Well, we certainly broke new ground in Alien-Ghost relations, didn't we?"  
  
"You're not a ghost. You're alive."  
  
"I'm an oddity. A weirdo. A freak."  
  
"Join the club." Jill said, cracking a smile.  
  
"Now pick something out of your horribly out of date wardrobe, and let's get going."  
  
"It's not so bad."  
  
"Goodwill wouldn't take those clothes, Alex."  
  
"They might come back into style."  
  
"As soon as Disco rises from the dead."  
  
"Disco died?" Alex squeaked.  
  
"You goober!" Jill laughed and smiled as Alex came out of the bathroom.   
  
"Goober?" He said, scratching his head. "What?"  
  
"Don't worry…it means that I like you!"  
  
"I happen to like you too, Miss Valenti!" Alex said, picking Jill up and throwing her over his shoulder. He smacked her butt. "And apparently you inherited the great butt gene from your father."  
  
"Please. He ruins the mood. Now let me down."  
  
"NO." He said, smacking her butt for emphasis. "Not gonna!"  
  
"Aleeeeexx!!" She whined as they descended the stairs. "Put me down!"  
  
"Not on your li…" Alex's words trailed off suddenly.  
  
There was a moment of silence, until Jill finally wiggled out of Alex's grasp and fell to the floor with a noisy crash.  
  
Rubbing her sore behind, she stared at the reason Alex had stopped.  
  
Standing in the middle of the living room, wearing identical shocked expressions, were Casey and Aunt Liz.  
  
Didn't anybody ever call before barging in anymore?  
  
***  
  
Liz stood transfixed.  
  
That was Alex.  
  
Alexander Charles Whitman. Her best friend. The boy who had carried her for a mile when she broke her leg on a bike trip. Her friend who almost disowned her when she kept a secret from him. The friend that could always make her laugh. Her friend who was dead…who had been dead since 2001.  
  
But yet he was standing up there, on that last step of this very house. And his chest moved. In, Out. In, Out. In, Out. Alex was alive.  
  
Finally, she ran over to Alex's arms.  
  
The tears came rapidly and fast. "Oh, Alex…" She said as he gently rubbed her hair. "You are Alex, aren't you? This isn't some sort of trick, I couldn't stand it. Tell me you're real."  
  
"I'm real, Liz." He said, crying himself. "I'm here."  
  
"How can this be?" she said, studying his hands, taking his pulse. "You died. Tess killed you. You died."  
  
"Not exactly." Tess said from the doorway. "Alex was never died. The mindwarp—on Antar it is used as a way for priests to gain enlightenment- it allows the mind to go to another level. When he thought he was going crazy, he was only evolving."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Liz said. "I know what happened, I was there. You are a murderer, Tess, and I can't believe that you would ever show your snakelike face in this town again."  
  
"She's not the murderer, Liz. She was Nasedo's puppet. We connected, and now she's here, trying to set things right."  
  
"You can't erase the past." Liz spat. "I can't trust her." She said, gazing over at Jill with disbelief. "If you knew the pain she's caused…"  
  
"Liz, you know better than anybody that the past can be changed. And that's one of your greatest regrets."  
  
"How did you know that?" Liz yelled, walking over to Tess and staring her in the face. "I never told you that."  
  
"Yes you did." Tess paused. "You told me 10 years from now, as you were dying. You told me a lot of things, Liz."  
  
Liz stared at Tess. "What is this all about?"  
  
"I need your help Liz, and Casey's, Jill's and Alex's. I have to make things right again. And I can't trust anybody else but you."  
  
  
  



	11. Complications in the Snack Food Aisle

"I can't just trust you, Tess. I tried that before. It didn't work. Alex…Alex wound up dead because of that."  
  
Tess shook her head. "He…he was never dead…Alex was mindwarped so much that he went through the Antarian equivalent of evolution. He was a spirit- more than just a person weighed down with a psychical body. He transcended space and time."   
  
Casey rolled her eyes. "Not to mention that he juliannes fries…"  
  
"So what it is it, why do you need my help Tess? What is it about me, and Casey, Jill, and Alex…speaking of which, Jill, why was Alex carrying you?"  
  
Jill blushed.  
  
"In ten years, the war will take over this planet, as well as Antar. It will rip your world apart, and split your family in half."  
  
"As if." Liz countered. "All it is, is lies."  
  
"Khivar will not stop looking for the heir. Although all the kids have been taught to hide their powers, they will slip up. And when they do, he will catch them. He will catch them, he will hunt them, he will bribe them, he will kill them. They are nothing more than collateral to him."  
  
"Who is the heir?" Casey spoke up.  
  
"My son…Max's son. It's almost like he is somewhere nearby, but I can't tell exactly where. I feel him. He's grown up protected, unaware of his powers. He'll die without ever knowing…and I don't even know his name…He's in hiding now, even for me?"  
  
"And you never find out?" Jill asked incrediously.  
  
"Liz died before she could tell me."  
  
"What?" Liz snapped.  
  
"You went to rescue my son from Khivar…I never really entertained any idea that you would do such a favor for me, it was all for Max. I could never understand how devoted you were to him, Liz, until that moment. I held your hand as you lay dying. Your mission failed….both you and my son died…and I've come back here to stop all of this before it ever began."  
  
"I died?" Liz said, running her fingers through her slightly graying hair.   
  
"You've never been one to give up on a cause, Liz. You followed this one to the very end. It was almost as if…almost as if you knew you were going to die. You told me about Future Max, about how you threw away a wonderful future…I envy you, Liz. I envy the way you can be dedicated and fully care about people. If I was more like you in the first place…maybe none of this would have ever happened.  
  
Liz's expression softened during Tess' speech. She still didn't trust Tess fully, but she willing to see what project would be asked of her.  
  
"And why me?"  
  
"I know about your studies in time travel. It's been somewhat of an obsession for you, hasn't it? You know that it's possible, but you don't have the equipment. I have the equipment, but not the knowledge. You will make time travel possible."  
  
"What about Casey? Why did you want her along as well?"  
  
"She is going to be one of the travelers. She's studied with you, Liz…she's good. Casey can handle the technical aspects of the traveling side of the mission."  
  
"And who would travel?"  
  
"I can't Liz, and you can't either. If we were to go back in time and see our double, both of us would cease to exist. The same goes for Alex."  
  
"Jill?" Liz said, pointing to the stairs. "She's a child."  
  
"And how young were you when you ran from the FBI? How young were you when you visited a town full of skins? How young were you when you wanted to take off on a flight to Sweden, without even having a passport? Jill is grown up now, Liz. She's the one that can do this mission."  
  
"What about Alex?" Jill spoke up. "You said he was important too."  
  
"Alex is the heart of the mission. Both you and Liz love him. And you both want him to have the past he never had."  
  
Jill exchanged a glance with her Aunt. It was a weird glance at best, each seeming to be evaluating the other, now that new and unusual evidence had been brought to light.  
  
"I thought you weren't going to do this." Alex said, taking Jill by the shoulders. "I told you not to throw your life away!"  
  
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or even the one." She sighed, grabbing his hand and kissing it.

***  
  
Liz and Tess were sitting at the kitchen table, having a very much needed discussion. Each gripped a glass of coffee in their hands, but it grew cold as their minds were on the past, not on a liquid refreshment.  
  
Casey sat on the sofa in the living room, flipping through the TV channels.  
  
"I can't believe Sheli's just taking off and leaving for Egypt! She has friends, she has a family? And what will happen to poor Bonnie and poor Brendan?" She muttered, trying to keep her mind off of her best friend macking with her boyfriend in the corner.  
  
Her boyfriend who was the same age as her parents.  
  
The slightly off world of Sydney was a lot more stable than the real world of Roswell right then.  
  
"Oh, they go out for a little bit. Kind of turn to each other in times of need like thing?" Jill said, sitting down beside her best friend. "Until that is, Bonnie goes to New York for the summer. She brings back this guy, Zan, from New York, and they are really bad. And Sheli and Brendan end back up in the periodical room."  
  
"Wouldn't it be better if the nookie room was one that locked?"  
  
"What, you expect them to have an eraser room or something? Get real. TV shows aren't that realistic."  
  
"You didn't come over her to tell me about Sydney. You've called me once since you moved here. Girl, we pratically lived at each other's houses. And now you've just dumped me.."  
  
"I didn't dump you. Things have just…bloomed."  
  
"You're in love. You didn't even tell me you met anybody. The last thing of intrest you said to me had to do with a ghost in your house."  
  
"Alex."  
  
Casey craned her head around and looked at Alex, softly playing piano music over in the corner. "I still can't believe he was a ghost. I thought ghosts were all disgusting and vapory."  
  
"He's not disgusting is he?" Jill sighed.  
  
"Not at all!" Casey seconded. "He's amazing."  
  
"Do you forgive me? Oh, Case, it's all changed so fast. I don't know how to explain it."  
  
Casey shook her head, and her long, brown curls bounced. "If I wasn't forgiving, I would have given up on you a long time ago, Valenti."  
  
Alex smiled as the two girls smiled and laughed. Casey was clearly Maria's daughter, with outspoken language and movements. Her hair was the same color as Michael's, and she seemed to have brushes of paint in various places on her clothes, and the same "You annoy me" body posture when pissed.   
  
If only he could spend the rest of his life with Jill, loving her, and meeting her friends like Casey…  
  
But to get back his past, he would take away her future.  
  
***  
  
There were some pretty bad things about being an alien.  
  
Such as the eternal drive for sweet and spicy. Casey's favorite snack consisted of pixy sticks and extra hot salsa on Jalapeno flavored chips. Everyone in her family, even the other hybrids and second generation aliens couldn't stand the combination. So of course Jill didn't stock that in her house. And she was forced to make a late night run to the grocery store. A girl did have cravings.  
  
She held on to the cart, and daydreamed. One day she would have an incredibly handsome, loving man who would be completely devoted to her. And if he acted up and didn't treat her right, she'd kick his…  
  
Casey shuttered as she plowed into the back of a person bending over to get a bag of Nachos.  
  
"I am sooo sorry." She exclaimed as she helped the guy up.  
  
"It's ok" he said in a soft New Mexican accent. "It isn't every day a beautiful lady runs me over. I kind of enjoy the attention."  
  
"Oh well, then I'll do it again." She replied without thinking. If only this guy wasn't so good looking, with his dark brownish blackish hair and dazzling blue eyes. She had a thing for blue eyes. Her own were a shade of golden hazel, but she always admired Jill's eye color- when she was little, before she knew about her powers, she tried to use a blue crayon to change her eye color. Needless to say, it didn't exactly work.  
  
He laughed. He liked this girl. She was different then the local girls, the ones that played hard to get. He hated trying to figure out what a girl thought, and what she wanted. Dealing with his mother and sister were bad enough. All the girls in Roswell were so fussy, so wrapped up in themselves. They would play it cool, and joke around. But this girl, this girl with a mass of brown curls blushed. That was attractive…very attractive. He fiddled around with the pocket of his leather jacket. "So you're not from around here?" Very smooth, he chided himself.  
  
"No, I'm visiting from Florida…my best friend…she has weird cravings." She said, motioning to the items in the cart.  
  
He smiled, an easy going grin that melted her heart. "What's so weird about Pixy Sticks? I love them. And I'm the only one in my family that can even handle Tabasco."  
  
"Tabasco is essential." She agreed, her curls bouncing. "It's one of the main elements of life."  
  
"I like your smile." He said, not believing the words floating out of his mouth.   
  
"Thanks. People say I inherited it from my mother."  
  
"Oh? Would you mother mind me taking the smile, and you…out sometime?"  
  
"I think my mother would definitely approve…"  
  
"Rob."  
  
"I'm Casey. Casey Guerin. And your last name would be.."  
  
"Valenti."  
  
"Valenti as in the Sheriff ? Valenti as in you have a cousin named Jill Valenti?" Casey's face paled.  
  
"Guerin as in Maria?" Rob's face matched the shade of her own.  
  
"Yeah…I guess I haven't seen you since I was little…Rob…and you SURE have grown up…uh.. I've got to go."  
  
"Uh…yeah…bye.." Rob said, grabbing her hand in a quick, polite, handshake.   
  
Sparks flew up and down his arms.  
  
He watched Casey flee for safety.   
  
There was no way a cousin could cause him to have THAT sort of reaction.  
  
  
  



	12. Nothing But the Truth

He slammed the door of the kitchen.  
  
Sure, his mom hated it when he slammed the door, but he was old enough that he didn't care. At all.  
  
Cousin.  
  
He had just flirted with his COUSIN.  
  
But wait, she wasn't really his cousin, was she…neither was Jill…Jill's dad and Casey's mother were his half brother and sister. So that made him Casey's uncle.  
  
He was going crazy. He was simply going crazy. You were not supposed to get automatic sparks from your niece, even though she tended to look like a fairy princess goddess girl.  
  
Rob opened the refrigerator, an ancient model that his parents bought when they first got married. He thought it was stupid to keep a machine that was basically falling apart and didn't work right because it reminded them of the past. The past was a load of crap.  
  
He pulled out the ingredients to make his favorite snack..tortillas, spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, cheese, garlic powder, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and of course Pixy Sticks. The perfect combination of sweet and spicy.  
  
Chad and Anna hated when he would make tortilla pizzas-they hated his special recipe…and couldn't see how he could eat the combination.   
  
He'd always had a weird sense of taste, since he was little. Everything naturally seemed bland…as if it were missing some vital element that would make it taste JUST right. It wasn't until the one time that they all went to visit Kyle and Maria in Florida, and when he took some of Jill's food that everything tasted…RIGHT. He asked his Dad about it, and Jim had been more than willing to help his son with dietary needs. Chad still complained that Rob got special food at dinner sometimes.  
  
"Oh gosh, not that again!" Anna was standing in doorway of the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe. "I will never understand where you got your weird sense of taste."  
  
"Maybe I'm normal, and you're weird." Rob taunted, finishing off his pizza and putting it in the microwave. "I enjoy things food with flavor."  
  
"I still say you need to enter the spiciest chili-eating contest." Anna said, her eyes twinkling. Anna was a very beautiful girl, very quickly becoming a woman. She looked a lot like Maria, who was an ever present element in the family, just like Kyle, due to the stories their parents told them, and the pictures spread around the house. Her hair was a light brown, the same color that Kyle's was in his senior picture. Her eyes were the traditional Valenti blue, and when she smiled, Anna looked just like Amy. "It came today!" She said, grabbing her brother's hand.  
  
"What came?"  
  
"My acceptance! I got in."  
  
"To college?" Anna had her sights set on the University of Michigan, and it's Chemical engineering program. She'd been waiting out by the mailbox for days.  
  
"Yes!" She said, squealing and grabbing Rob's shoulders.  
  
And then there was a flash of light.  
  
Rob was rocked off his feet and fell to the cold, cool tile of the floor.  
  
"ANNA? Are you all right?" He said, his voice dull and hoarse from the smoke. "Anna Banana?"  
  
There was no answer.  
  
Rob's heart thudded against his chest. She had to be ok. She had to. She was his little sister.  
  
He started to crawl through the smoke, searching for Anna.  
  
He found her. She was bleeding, her breaths were shallow.  
  
Whatever had happened, it wasn't good. Anna was hurt, badly. And Chad was probably still out, but Mom and Dad would be back soon…  
  
She needed help. There was so much blood. She needed help now.  
  
He touched her belly, where the blood seemed to be coming out of. He pulled up her shirt and winced as he touched the wound.   
  
"Anna, you still there? Look at me." She wasn't going to die on his watch.   
  
And then it happened.  
  
Flashes.  
  
Anna watching Rob and Chad playing in the pool, but being too little to join in.  
  
A package from Florida, with presents just for her.  
  
A nervous Anna at her first ballet recitial.  
  
Beating her brothers in a game of basketball.  
  
Learning to sew with her mother.  
  
Being elected 6th grade class president.  
  
Breaking her leg by falling off the jungle gym.  
  
Spying as her brothers went on dates  
  
Babysitting the local terror of a kid, known simply as "the toad".  
  
Her first kiss, from Tom Sohn.  
  
Prom.  
  
Opening the acceptance letter from Michigan.  
  
The flashes stopped as suddenly as they had started.  
  
"Robbie?" Anna said, in a little girlish voice. "Robbie, what happened?"  
  
Rob couldn't speak. He couldn't think…he must be going crazy. "I've got to go Annie." He said, running past his concerned parents and out the door.  
  
"Anna baby?" Her mother asked, seeing her daughter sprawled out on the floor. "Are you ok?"  
  
Anna was flustered to say the best. "Yeah…I wasn't…but I am…and I don't know what's going on."  
  
Amy's eyes were drawn to her daughter's stomach. A simple silver handprint gleamed brilliantly in the dark kitchen.  
  
Jim braced himself. The next stage was beginning, the stage he had feared for so many years. "Amy, Anna, I have a lot to tell you…"  
  


There was a fierce pounding on the door.  
  
"What in the…" Casey muttered, not wanting to be  
taken away from the all night "Sydney" marathon. She  
simply had to know about what would happen next, when  
Zan's sisters Emily and Kara came to Sydney, each  
dragging along a drooly love slave. "What I wouldn't  
give to have a drooly love slave…"  
  
It was Rob, Rob her hunkalicious, drop dead gorgeous,  
cute, funny, cousin, uncle dude.  
  
And he was upset. Tears were pouring down his face,  
and he was shaking.  
  
Casey enfolded him in her arms, and tuned out all the  
goings on of Sydney, and concentrated on Rob. He was  
so strong, so tall, so muscular, but yet he seemed so  
little, so fragile, so emotional.  
  
He needed her.   
  
She held him, and let him cry.  
  
The other occupants awoke from their sleep, and  
started converging on the front hallway.  
  
Jill was concerned, and gripped Alex's hand for  
support.  
  
Liz put down the baseball bat she had picked up in  
case the strange noise was because of an intruder.   
  
Tess stood transfixed, looking at Casey and Rob, her  
eyes full of tears.  
  
***  
  
The mini-van was silent as it sped to the Whitman  
house across town.  
  
Amy was sitting in the middle, holding her baby girl,  
afraid that something might happen and she'd loose her  
again.   
  
Chad was sitting in the front seat, looking very much  
like his father, twiddling with his hands, trying to  
figure out what this was all about. He'd just gotten  
home from his date, and his Dad burst through the  
door, carrying Anna, and ordering him to follow in the  
car. Had something happened to Anna? To Rob?  
  
Jim's mind was set on Rob. Rob, who had to be so  
confused. He hated lying to his son about the past,  
about his heritage, but it was the only way to keep  
him safe. He helped Rob get special meals, and he had  
calmed and comforted Rob when he healed the family  
parakeet, Buster.   
  
Now the truth was going to come out, and all of it.   
He could only guess where Rob would go- to a place  
that felt safe, to someone he could trust…years of  
intuition and criminal psychology clicked in. Rob  
would go to Jill's house…he was much friendlier and  
open to her than he was to most people, probably  
because of an unknown connection- the Evans link  
through Isabel and Max.  
  
***  
  
There was another series of sharp knocks on the door.  
  
"I have got to get a better security system." Jill  
groaned, and went to open the door.  
  
"Grandpa?" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Dad?" Rob exclaimed, still in the warm shelter of  
Casey's arms.  
  
"Sheriff?" Liz said, confused at the turn of events.  
  
"Alex??" Jim exclaimed seeing him for the first time.  
"What the?"  
  
"Dad…" Tess muttered, looking fondly on the Sheriff.  
  
"I am so confused." Casey muttered, pulling Rob  
closer. "What in the heck is going on here?"  
  
Liz's pratical sense of control took over. "Let's all  
rationally sit down and talk this out."  
  
"Alex?" Amy screamed walking in the door. She  
reached for a bottle of cedar oil in her pocket, but  
didn't make it before her eyes rolled up to the back  
of her head. Chad ran in and kept his mother from  
hitting the floor.  
  
"What is this?" Chad said, looking around at the  
assorted people in the room.  
  
***  
  
It was an uneasy circle, each person dreading part of  
the explanation that was to follow.  
  
"Where do we start?" Liz said, looking around for  
answers. "We have to talk this out, we're not doing  
any good sitting around staring at each other."  
  
"Alex." Amy asserted. "How is he here? He's dead."  
  
"He looks alive to me." Chad muttered, running his  
fingers through his hair. "He's breathing and all."  
  
"Alex was never dead." Tess spoke up. "He was  
undergoing an alien evolution process, and he existed  
on a plane greater and different than ours. Nasedo  
knew this, and the accident and body were one of his  
mindwarps. Jill, with her alien power, was somehow  
able to draw Alex out of temporal flux and back into  
this dimension."  
  
"Whoa…wait a minute….did you say ALIEN?" Rob  
exclaimed. "I thought that was just a bunch of  
tourist crap..not anything real…aliens aren't real.."  
  
"I assure you that they are." Casey's voice grew  
cold. "I am one."  
  
"What? You're human!" Chad exclaimed. "Are you  
trying to tell me this place is overflowing with  
ghosts and aliens?"  
  
"The truth is kind of freaky, huh. Actually, Casey  
and I are hybrids. Part human, part alien. And Liz is  
part alien too, just like my Dad, cuz Uncle Max healed  
her…" Jill replied.  
  
"This is just going too fast! Could somebody slow  
down and explain something!" Anna exclaimed. "I have  
been through a lot tonight, and I would like some  
frigging answers!"  
  
"Watch your language!" Amy chided.  
  
"In 1947, a UFO did actually crash in Roswell. It was  
carrying 4 pods. The pods each contained a fetus,  
that would grow into a half alien, half human child.   
They hatched in 1989, and the children were adopted  
and grew up as normal children."  
  
"Who?" Rob said, intrigued by the story.  
  
"Only three were actually adopted…Michael Guerin,  
Isabel Evans, and Max Evans." A hint of regret and  
sadness was present when Liz said Max's name. "The  
other one, Tess," Liz pointed to Tess "Did not hatch  
at the same time, and was raised by an alien that  
survived the crash, Nasedo."   
  
"Then?"  
  
"Isabel, Max, and Michael tried to live in Roswell as  
normal children. They succeeded, mostly, until one day in 1999."  
  
"What happened?" Chad said, becoming involved in the story as well.  
  
"I was shot. And Max saved me. It began a whole chain of events…they couldn't hide anymore…from their enemies, from the FBI, from anyone."  
  
Tess took over the story. "I was raised by Nasedo, and we finally found the other three in the Spring of 2000. I was brought up being taught that I was meant to be with Max, that he was my destiny. After a while, I saw how wrong my views were, and things began to change." She took a deep breath and went on. "Unfortunately, I didn't get a choice. Nasedo was killed by one of our enemies, a skin, but he managed to find a way to transfer his essence into my body. He controlled me, my thoughts, my actions, I was not myself."  
  
"Continue." Jim said, his eyes following Tess.  
  
"Nasedo had made a deal, years ago, to return with a child of one of the Royal Four. In exchange for handing them over to Khivar, he would gain riches and wealth on our planet. He was desperate to find a way to use the granalith to get back home. He mindwarped Alex, turned him into a mindless puppet. It ended up putting Alex through an Antarian custom that his human body could not handle. To cover this up, Nasedo mindwarped everyone to think that Alex had died, when he was really existing in an alternate dimension."  
  
Rob sighed. "Interesting story, but that doesn't explain what in the heck is happening to me."  
  
"And it doesn't explain how I got this thing on my stomach. And how Rob did whatever he did to heal me?"  
  
Jim grabbed for Amy's hand, as if to brace himself.  
  
"Rob, I want you to know that I love you. I have watched you grow up, and I couldn't be more proud of you if you were my own son."  
  
"I…am…your…son." Rob said looking at Jim in disbelief.  
  
"Yes, you are my son, but not by blood. I love you as much as I love Chad, Anna, Maria, and Kyle. You were a precious gift to us, one that I thank God every day for."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You were a baby when your father handed you over to us. He was dying. Amy and I did all that we could to make him comfortable, and to save him, but the damage the fight had done was too severe. He asked me…said that I was one of the few that he would trust…to raise you, to keep you safe, Rob. And I have, I've done everything I could, from giving you my name, to hiding the times when you did access your powers accidentally."  
  
"Powers?" He asked incredulously.  
  
"You did exactly what your father did twenty six years ago. You saved the life of someone that you loved."  
  
Liz was staring at Rob, tears flowing down her face. This was Max's son…she could see it now, the expression full of hope and doubt, much like a little boy…the ears…the sense of authority…This was Max's son…the reason that he died.  
  
"Max was my father? I'm an alien?" Rob said, staring at his hands, flipping them over as if he had an external "Alien Power" switch.  
  
"Yes. I've been afraid you'd guess so many other times, like the time you healed the parakeet, or the time the tree suddenly burst into fire?"  
  
"I did that?"  
  
"Or the time Anna's plastic ponies suddenly got switched around, with their tails on their heads and their heads on their tails?"  
  
"Me? I thought that was Chad!"  
  
"I told you it wasn't me!" Chad said, swatting his arm. "Dad, Anna and I aren't aliens, are we?"  
  
"No…even though with the weird things you two do, sometimes I wonder…"  
  
"If Max was my father, who was my mother?" Rob said, grabbing Casey's hand.  
  
"I am." Tess said, tears flowing down her face. "And you have no idea how long I have searched for you. You are more beautiful than I ever dreamed."


	13. Nobody's Child

Rob's mouth felt dry, like a thousand cotton swabs had been stuffed inside it.   
  
The lady…The woman….this person named Tess was his mother. His MOTHER.  
  
Not Amy, who tucked him into bed at night and read "Goodnight Moon" when he was little. Not Amy, who had sung him to sleep with songs by the Mamas and the Papas. Not Amy, who had built an entire treehouse by herself for a Cub Scout meeting. Not Amy, who taught him to dance, even though he had two left feet. Not Amy, who had let him cry all night long in her arms after he shot and killed his first criminal while on duty.   
  
Amy was not his mother. Amy had not carried him inside her, like she did Chad and Anna. Amy was not the one who named him and went through pain giving birth to him.  
  
Tess was.  
  
He didn't know what to say.  
  
Only Casey, with her gentle but steady hand, kept him sane. He focused on her hand, how smooth the skin was, how shapely her fingers were. How beautiful.  
  
Finally he spoke. "If you are my mother, then how come I wasn't raised with you? How come you weren't there?" He squeezed Casey's hand, and she squeezed back.  
  
Tess looked flustered. "I couldn't…sending you away was the only way to keep you safe. I love you. You are my son."  
  
Rob stood up, jerking Casey up with him. "I'm nobody's son. I had a mother and a father,or at least I thought I did. But now I'm truly an orphan. I don't have anyone."  
  
He stormed out the door, pulling Casey along with him.  
  
Tess sat on the floor, stunned. It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be a happy reunion, with hugs and tears of joy flowing down her face.   
  
Instead her son, who was now fully a man, ran out the door and left her behind.  
  
She hadn't cried during all those years on Antar, when she was prisoner and everyone that she loved hated her. She didn't break down. She was stronger than that.  
  
But her son, her child, her dream, just walked out the door. The only good thing that had come out of years of pain was her son. And her son didn't want her.  
  
Tess began to sob, loudly and fully.   
  
Two arms enfolded her, and held her tightly. "It's okay to cry, Tess. It's okay to cry." Jim soothed.  
  
***  
  
Rob pulled Casey through the streets of Roswell, running at a breakneck speed.  
  
Finally they reached the park, and Rob stopped, and stared, as if he had never seen this place before in his life.  
  
"Where are we?" He muttered, gazing at Casey.  
  
"I don't know….I'm just visting…you've lived here for longer than I have."  
  
"I'm scared." He said, sitting down on the bench. "I don't know what's going on Casey. I don't know."  
  
She took his large hands in her small ones, and pulled him down to sit on the bench beside her. "I know you must be scared now, Rob, and you probably feel like everything is ending. I wish I could pull all the answers down out of the sky and give them to you. I can't. But I will be here, if you need me."  
  
He sighed, and drew Casey closer. "Is it weird being an alien?"  
  
Casey smiled. "I've never known anything else. It's weird having powers sometimes, and it was hard as I was growing up, trying to hide them. At times, I thought that nobody would understand how it feels, being of two worlds and places…but luckily my family is great. My father has this very gruff exterior, but underneath it all, he's like this great big teddy bear. My mom is sometimes off on her own little planet, which is pretty strange, considering that she's human…and I had Aunt Isabel, and Uncle Kyle…Noah, Chelsey, Bianca, and Todd…my siblings, and Jill…she's my best friend, and somehow, always, she manages to understand me, even when I don't understand myself."  
  
"It sounds like a great family. I wish I had one."  
  
"You do."  
  
"I did."  
  
"You still do, Rob. You are still part of the Valenti family, whether by blood or not. Jim and Amy have raised you, and cared for you. They are your parents. And the rest of our family isn't very bad. I only remember a little bit about Uncle Max—your father, he was nice, but sad. And Isabel…your Aunt, Jill's mom…she's wonderful…  
  
"You're still my cousin?" Rob said, staring down at her with a strange look on her face. "Now I'm an alien with the hots for my cousin."  
  
"You have the hots for me?" Casey said, with her eyes sparkling.   
  
Rob blushed. "I can't believe I said that."  
  
"We aren't really cousins…there's no blood relationship or anything…but since our family is so close and everything, we just say that we're all related…but really no, we aren't related annnnn…."  
  
Casey's words were cut short when Rob pulled her even closer, and covered her lips with his own.  
  
"I've been wanting to do that since you ran your cart into my butt at the supermarket."  
  
Casey blushed, and ran her fingers through Rob's dark hair. "I've only just met you, but I feel like I've known you forever."  
  
"I know. I feel like I've found the most amazing treasure in the universe."  
  
"My mother always told me that everybody has a soulmate…and eventually everyone will find theirs, and usually in the most weird ways. She found my Dad in elementary school, and then again on a road trip and a nookie motel…it's a long story, but it would make sense if you knew my parents…and Aunt Liz found hers when she was shot…Jill found hers in a haunted house, and I found mine in the snack food aisle."  
  
Rob pulled her close once more, and quite some time passed until anything more was said.

"Ashlyn is really in love with Nick? Doesn't she know that Tracy and Nick are meant to be together? Tracy would totally go ballistic if she lost Nick." Alex exclaimed. "What sort of crack were the writers on?"  
  
"At least they haven't messed with Allie and Jason." Amy said, sitting down next to Jill.  
  
"Yeah, but they wait until they have enough people pulled in and then they ruin the whole thing…"  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Oh, the whole Guin and Bill thing…like he would ever fall for anyone named Agent Orange!"  
  
"I agree. Sheriff Bill and Guin make much more sense."  
  
"It's a TV SHOW. Get a life!" Chad cried, rubbing his head. "I am trying to catch up on a little bit of the sleep I have missed because of all of my family's melodrama. There are enough real life aliens without obsessing about stupid fake ones."  
  
"You're just mad because Katie is with Brian." Anna taunted.  
  
"Well, I would be better for her." He argued.  
  
"It's a TV show! Get a life!" Anna said, mimicking her brother's tone.  
  
"I swear…" Chad sighed and laid back down on the floor.  
  
Tess had stopped crying, and was sitting in the kitchen, clutching a glass of hot cider, and talking with Jim and Liz.  
  
"I failed. I can't do anything right, even be a good mother."  
  
"Don't say that." Liz said, stroking Tess' back. "Jett was always an indiviual, from the time he was real little. He always wanted to do things his own way. I used to yearn for him to need me, but he didn't until he was older. One day he told me how much he appreciated and loved me. Kids always love and need their parents, they just don't know it."  
  
"You think?"  
  
"Rob has gone through a lot tonight. It's been a big shock for him. Give him time, Tess. Give him time."  
  
"I just wish he'd come back."  
  
"Casey is with him. He'll be ok." Liz said. "She wouldn't let anything happen to her."  
  
"Is she Michael and Maria's daughter?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And you want me to relax? If she's anything like Michael…"  
  
Liz rolled her eyes. "Somehow I think a twenty five year old man will be able to take care of himself."  
  
"Was Michael able to take care of himself?"  
  
Liz rolled her eyes.   
  
Jim laughed. "If they're not back in a while, I'll send Chad after them."  
  
"NO YOU WON'T!" Chad yelled indignitally from the back room. "I am not budging from this spot."  
  
"Ooh, Chad, look Katie's wearing the leather top again!" Anna exclaimed.  
  
"What? Where?"  
  
"Very nice." Alex muttered. "OUCH!" He cried out after Jill hit him in the stomach, so hard that he doubled over. "What in the hell was that for?"  
  
"You don't ogle other girls in front of your girlfriend, dummy."  
  
"Oh." Alex missed the days when Kyle and Michael were way more clueless around women than he was. They made him look like some sort of genius in comparison. All those years with no females around must have dulled his female knowledge…or depleted his estrogen..whatever…he was loosing touch.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
He was glad Maria hadn't explained her theory about probation and the doghouse to the next generation.  
  
"One more remark like that, and you'd be in probation."  
  
"Probation?"  
  
"Oh, both Dad and Uncle Michael get the doghouse all the time."  
  
"YES!" Alex screamed. "They're still clueless!"  
  
Jill rolled her eyes. "If you weren't so darn cute.."  
  
"Would you two shut up? I'm trying to watch "Sydney"!" Chad exclaimed.  
  
Every other pair of eyes in the house turned to Chad.  
  
"What?" He said, running his fingers through his messy hair. "You guys won't let me sleep."  
  
***  
  
"It's just so complicated…all of this…"  
  
"Things rarely aren't complicated. It's what makes them fun." Casey said, stroking his back.   
  
"Fun? Finding out I was abandoned?"  
  
"You didn't wait around to hear the rest of the story. How did you wind up on Antar? How did your father get back here? How did Tess get here? Maybe if you just talked to her…you'd find out."  
  
"What if I don't like what I found out?" He asked worried.  
  
"Rob, you can't change the past…that's not yours to worry about. But you can change your future. You are more than just your parents. You are Rob Valenti, Sheriff of Roswell, New Mexico. You are half alien, and half human. And you are the man I love."  
  
"You love me?"  
  
She shrugged. "I have to be true to myself, even if it means I may be hurt down the road."  
  
"I would never want to cause you pain, Casey. I think I love you too."  
  
"You think?" She said, pushing her hair away from her face. "Is this a new development?"  
  
He laughed. "I know. I love you Casey…uh what's your middle name?"  
  
"Alexis."  
  
"I love you, Casey Alexis Guerin."  
  
She smiled. "And I love you…Robert…what's your middle name?"  
  
Rob laughed. "Maxwell."  
  
"I love you Robert Maxwell Valenti."  
  
Rob kissed her, and he could see the stars. It was as if all that existed was her, a sky full of stars, and himself.  
  
After the kiss, Casey rested her head against his chest. He ran his fingers through her silky hair. She was a miracle…his miracle.  
  
His other hand dropped down to his side, and it was resting on the bench.  
  
Images, flashes- flowed through his mind.  
  
_* A teenager, with dark hair, brown eyes, and ears..ears just like his…a teenager who looked a lot like him…could it be his father?  
  
His mother, walking up to him, noticing how his face was streaked with tears.   
  
"Can I sit down?" she asked softly.  
  
"Sure." His father said inviting her to sit down.  
  
Tess sat down, and sat there quietly for a few minutes, watching Max gather his composure.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked hopefully.  
  
"No." He said, his voice still gruff with emotion.  
  
She waited a few seconds and then spoke again, this time even more cautiously. "Do you want me to leave?"  
  
He turned towards her, studied her for a second. "No" he said, as if the idea had never crossed his mind. *_  
  
Rob stood up with a start. "I've got to know what happened."  
  
Casey sighed. "Can we please just walk this time? Or even take a bus?"  
  
Rob chuckled. "Whatever you say, whatever you say."


	14. Dreamwalking

"You're glowing."  
  
"I am not!" Casey exclaimed. "Jillian Valenti, you are crazy in the head."  
  
"You are both glowing!" Anna exclaimed. "You both are in love, and you're glow with excitement."  
  
"I thought that only happened when you were pregnant." Chad said from his position on the couch.   
  
Jill blushed.  
  
Casey laughed. "It's not anything near that. I am a virgin…Jill?"  
  
Jill just blushed.  
  
Casey's mouth dropped open. "And when were you gonna plan on telling me this?"  
  
"When have I had time?"  
  
"But you aren't.."  
  
"Not that I know of!" Jill protested.   
  
"You don't know anything, son." Amy said, joining the group. "Now go back to your leather boob watching and leave us alone."  
  
***  
  
The conversation taking place in the kitchen was nowhere as light.  
  
"I…I…I went to the park with Casey. And we sat down on the bench…and I had a vision of my father…and of you…so tell me, tell me about my father. Tell me why you didn't raise me. Tell me why my father died."  
  
Tess gripped both Jim's and Liz's hands in support.   
  
"It's a long story. As was said before…we all were sent with a destiny, a role to fulfill…it corresponded with our former lives on Antar, the lives in which we lost the war. I was to be your father's mate, and your father's queen."  
  
"Ok…that seems pretty simple."  
  
"But by the time I came to Roswell, your father was already in love."  
  
"With who?"  
  
"Me" Liz said in a soft voice. "Max had always had a little bit of a crush on me, but I didn't know it..and then he saved my life in the Crashdown…and we fell in love. It was powerful, it was the first time I ever loved anyone, and I've never loved anyone in that same way since."  
  
"If you and Max were in love, then how?"  
  
"A version of Max came to me from the future. He said that in order to save the world, I had to make his younger self fall out of love with me."  
  
"And did you? How?"  
  
"I pretended to sleep with Kyle?"  
  
"Jill's dad?"  
  
"He was my boyfriend before Max…and he's still one of my dearest friends."  
  
"You were who he was upset about on the bench."  
  
"Yes." Liz nodded. "Doing that hurt me more than anything else that happened…letting him go was so hard.."  
  
"So then you, Tess, got together with my Dad?"  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I told you how Nasedo had control over me. Part of Nasedo's deal for power on Antar was to bring back a child of the Royal Four, so that Khivar could claim him for a heir."  
  
"I was a mistake."  
  
"You weren't planned…at least not by me…I loved your father, but not exactly in that way…but you were the only good thing that came out of that deception. You, the dream of you kept me alive when I was kept prisoner. I knew that you would be handsome, but I never dreamed that you would look so much like him. I know that you might not be able to forgive me, Rob, but please know that I love you, and I've loved you since the moment I knew that you were conceived."  
  
"This…this is so much to handle…" Rob said rubbing his head. "I don't really know what to say.."  
  
"Give it time, Rob. Ask Jill if you can use one of the guest bedrooms to take a nap..you haven't slept in so long." Jim said, ever fulfilling his role of parent.  
  
"Okay." Rob said, walking out of the room.  
  
Tess turned to Jim. "What do I do?"  
  
"Just give it time, Tess. Give it time."

"I can't sleep."  
  
"Just relax." Casey soothed, rubbing Rob's head.   
"You don't have to carry the world on your shoulders…"  
  
"But…" he protested.  
  
"No. The world will keep on going, the clock will  
keep on ticking and the universe will keep on  
spinning, even if Rob Valenti does take a nap."  
  
"But…I feel so lost. If I go to sleep, I might loose  
what little semblance of control I have."  
  
"I'll be right here, holding on to you. Maybe if I'm  
holding on to you, you won't get lost." Casey yawned.  
  
Rob put his head back down, and sighed with pleasure  
as Casey put her arms around his torso.  
  
"Now go to sleep, cheesehead."  
  
"Cheesehead?"  
  
"It's what my mom always calls my Dad. I just wanted  
to see how it would feel to have my own cheesehead."  
  
"So I'm your cheesehead?"  
  
"Nah." She replied with a yawn. "You're much more  
than that. You're my Rob."  
  
Rob closed his eyes as a wide smile spread over his  
face.  
  
***  
  
Anna could barely keep her eyes open. "Are we ever  
going home?"  
  
Amy shook her head. "Jill has offered to let us stay  
here tonight, since Rob is so exhausted. We can't go  
home until the department searches our house for  
evidence."  
  
"So where do I sleep?"  
  
"Find a spot. I'm sure there's a place somewhere. I  
see that Chad didn't have a hard time with that."  
  
"Oh yeah? The Olympic snoring champion? He could  
sleep just about anywhere." Anna sighed, pointing to  
her brother lounging on the couch.   
  
"Improvise." Jim suggested. "Pick a spot and lie  
down for awhile. I'm cooking dinner."  
  
"Cooking?"   
  
"Ok…ordering pizza. You happy?"  
  
"Dad…your idea of cooking is opening a can of soup.   
And even then you need help."  
  
"Why do you think I married your mother? Kyle was  
costing me a fortune in food bills."  
  
Anna sighed. "Wake me up when the 'za gets here, ok?"  
  
***  
  
"Alex, would you turn off the TV? I really want to  
take a nap."  
  
"It's Sydney!"  
  
"It's syndicated. You can catch it 20 or 30 more  
times, later on today."  
  
"But not this episode!"  
  
Jill sighed. "And which episode would this be?"  
  
"Allie and Jason are…cementing."  
  
"Oh…cementing." Jill sighed. "I still want to go to  
sleep."  
  
"I'll turn it off as soon as the credits roll, ok?"  
  
Jill sighed. "I'm sorry I'm snappy, but I haven't slept in over 24 hours, and I am a very needy person when it comes to slumber."   
  
Alex rolled his eyes. "Gee, I hadn't noticed."  
  
Jill squinted as she was looking at the tv. "What do they need pot holders for?"  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"This is a weird, weird, TV show." Jill said, leaning back against Alex and shutting her eyes.  
  
***  
  
One minute he was laying down in one of Jill's guest rooms, Casey's arms serving as an anchor, keeping him grounded.  
  
The next minute, he was flying. It was as if his mind left his physical body and was soaring far and away.  
  
He was in a valley, green and rich, full of fragrant flowers.  
  
Tess was there, dressed in a white lace dress, surrounded by a field of daisies.  
  
"Come here! Come to Mommy!" She said.  
  
And a toddler appeared, seemingly from nowhere. The baby had dark hair, and rich blue eyes. It toddled towards Tess at a lightning fast pace."  
  
"Mommy! Mommy!"  
  
Tess stretched out her arms. "I love you, Rob."  
  
The older Rob just gaped at the picture. Tess was dreaming of him. Tess loved him. His mother loved him.  
  
All that she said was true. This Tess, this happy Tess who only cared to play with her child, her small son…this was a reflection of the true Tess. Rob wasn't sure how he knew it, but somehow he did. It was similar to the way he fell for Casey- he just knew it was right, he just knew it was meant to be. It was meant to be. He was meant to be her son, no matter why or how he had been conceived. She didn't abadon Rob, she gave him up so that he could live. So that he could be free. Just like- Max- his father had.  
  
There had always been a few images in the back of Rob's mind- faces and places that he couldn't identify.  
  
He remembered a man with slightly stuck out ears, just like his. The man had a warm smile, and golden brown eyes. Rob's memories of the man were tinted with a hint of security, peace, and love.  
  
Only now, surrounded in Tess' happy dream, could he identify who that man was. Because Tess sent off that same aura of security, peace, and love.  
  
Rob Valenti was not an orphan.  
  
As far as he was concerned, he had the best family in the universe.  
  
And then Tess' laugh rang out across the valley. "Kyle!" She called, and Rob saw the same always-absent Valenti brother who smiled down from the mantelpiece at home.   
  
Kyle walked up to Tess and kissed her deeply.  
  
"NO!" He yelled, protesting what he was seeing. "This isn't right!"  
  
Tess looked towards the older Rob, as if seeing him for the first time.  
  
The fabric of the dream began to dissolve around Rob.  
  
He woke up screaming, with Casey kneeling next to him.  
  
"What happened? Bad dream?"  
  
"It was more than a nightmare." He swallowed, as the door opened and a crazed Tess opened the door.   
  
"What was all that about, MOM?" he demanded.


	15. Vision of the Future

  
"What was what?" Tess stumbled, visibly flustered.   
  
"How…what….how did I see into your dream, or whatever, and what was my brother doing there?"  
  
"Dream walking is an alien skill. My mother has it, and so do I to a certain extent." Jill said from behind Tess. She pushed past Tess and approached Rob. "We can go into other people's dreams, see what they are dreaming, and sometimes actually participate. I'm guessing that you have that power too."  
  
"Partly." Tess admitted, regaining her voice. "One of my powers…I can plant images in people's heads…I drew you into my dream. I wanted you to believe me…I wanted you to see me. I thought that this might be the easiest way."  
  
"And Kyle? You wanted me to see that part about Kyle?"  
  
"That was an accident…I lost control of my dream, and my human part, my subconscious, took over. I fell asleep, I guess…I didn't mean to show you that part."  
  
"Of a dream? What is Kyle doing there in the first place?" Rob roared.  
  
Tess struggled to find words to say. "Uh…eh…so…"  
  
Jill stepped in and saved the day. "Rob, there is a lot you don't know about our parent's pasts…"  
  
"And you do?"  
  
"As of late, I've become an expert."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Alex…my Alex…was friends with all of our parents. Yours, mine, Casey's. He was even my mother's boyfriend."  
  
Rob wrinkled his nose. "Isn't that kind of gross?"  
  
"Rob, I did love your father." Tess said, gently and hesitatingly reaching out her hand and laying it on her son's shoulder. "From a very young age, as long as I can remember, I was told about Max, and our previous life together on Antar. He was my destiny. He was supposed to love me, and I was supposed to love him." Tess sat down on the bed next to him. "But by the time I was reunited with him, he'd already fallen in love with Liz. I can't tell you how much of an outsider I felt like. Everything that I'd been promised- a family- was stolen from me."  
  
Rob sat silently, gazing into Tess' eyes.   
She sighed and continued her story. "The summer of 2000 was not a fun time for me. But the fall brought change, the best and worst of my life."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Nasedo died and transferred his esscence into my body, leading to Alex's supposed death and my betrayal of my family. But in the fall I also moved in with the Valentis."  
  
"My family?" Rob was stunned.  
  
"They were my family too. It was so wonderful to be included, to be part of something. The Sheriff was like a father to me, and Kyle…Kyle was like a brother at first, someone to annoy and fight with…but he became more…my best friend…and I fell in love with him."  
  
"WHAT?" Casey squeaked. "This is like, so weird. Jill's boyfriend was actually her mother's boyfriend, and you were in love with her father, where Rob's father loved Liz and she loved him, but he got together with you? This whole thing sounds like something caused by something seriously high on drugs."  
  
"It's the truth."  
  
"So how? How did you get together with Max? How did I happen?" Rob asked, taking his mother's tiny aged hands in his own large, young hands.  
  
"By May of that year, Nasedo had fully taken over most of my body and mind controls. Only every once in a while could I actually do what I wanted. He hypnotized me and your father into doing what he wanted. He awakened some of our past memories, and overloaded our biological urges. You were the result of all this."  
  
"How…how did I get to Antar if everybody else was here?"  
  
"Nasedo…Nasedo wanted to get home. You and I were just insurance that he would get to live safely back on Antar. He…he was going to kill you if I stayed on Earth. I had to get back to save you."  
  
"I just seem to be a problem." Rob said, pulling away from Tess and standing up, restlessly pacing. "My very existence has ripped apart everything."  
  
"No!" Tess exclaimed. "You are the only thing that has kept me alive, the only thing that kept me sane. I lived so that you could live. I can't regret…I can't regret anything that led to you. If all I had to go through, if every tear was the price that I had to pay to give birth to a precious and perfect child like you, then it was worth it."  
  
"I'm not perfect." Rob muttered. "I have faults, I'm stubborn, I burp too loudly.."  
  
"You're my child. And to me you are perfect."   
  
Rob turned around and pulled Tess into a hug.  
  
"Momma." He said with tears running down his face. "Momma."

"So we'll start the project tomorrow, Tess?" Liz asked, taking a small bite of the still piping hot pizza.   
  
"Project?" Rob said, looking up from his own plate of pizza.   
  
"Oh look at the time" Jim sighed. "Amy, Anna, Chad, it's time to go bond as a family and watch "Sydney"."   
  
"Dad, that's all we've done today." Chad whined. "Can't we just do something fun?"  
  
"Don't be silly, son. We have had an event filled day, with bombs exploding, alien healings and all other sorts of stuff."  
  
"But besides that all we've done is watch TV."   
  
"Chad!" Jim ordered. "Living room. Now."  
  
"Do you know what mission he's talking about?" Rob asked Alex.  
  
"It both sucks and blows, and is pretty impossible." Alex said, with a groan. Apparently Jill didn't change her mind after all.  
  
"Tess wants us to go back in time and change things." Jill said with a soft sigh.  
  
"What things?"  
  
"Her betrayal of everyone, Alex's death, take your pick." She said, grabbing the bottle of Tabasco from Casey.  
  
Rob frowned. This wasn't right…wasn't there some sort of Temporal Prime Directive that stopped people from doing that sort of thing…No, that was Star Trek…but this wasn't right.  
  
"But if you change time, then…would we exist? Jill, Casey, and I?"  
  
Tess looked uneasy. "Not exactly."  
  
"Not exactly? You love me so much that you don't want me to be born?" Rob yelled, using his powers to hurl his plate at the wall. "Some mother."   
  
"It's not like that!" Tess exclaimed, and grabbed Rob's hand.  
  
Once more images filled his mind  
  
_Jill was coming down the stairs, dressed in a velvety material. She held her head high as if she expected to be revered._

_  
"Miss, what can I get you?" A servant asked her. The servant had rags for clothes and appeared to be very dirty. Rob couldn't tell if the servant was male or female, for the hair was in a buzz cut.  
  
"Nothing, Anna. Your lack of competence never ceases to amaze me." Jill said, shooing the servant away.  
  
Rob gasped. That was Anna. Bright, beautiful, intelligent Anna Teresa Valenti. How could anybody do something like this to her? He wanted to interact with the Anna, hug her and protect her, but his powers were useless in this vision.  
  
"Lady Casey, what is on the agenda today?"  
  
Casey walked in, wearing an outfit similar to Jill's. Her stomach was rounded, she was obviously pregnant. "The rebel execution." Casey said, her tone dismal. "By order of the High Commander."  
  
"Bring him in." Jill commanded.  
  
_Rob's heart thudded when he saw the face of the rebel.  
  
It was Chad. Chad was being led into this chamber, struggling.  
  
Chad was being killed.  
  
Chad, the little brother who put bugs in his bed, Chad the brother who snuck in the backseat of Rob's car and joined him on his first date, uninvited.  
  
Rob felt the hot, harsh sting of tears in his eyes.  
_  
"Do you have any last words?"  
  
Chad stood up straight, and looked Jill in the eyes. "I am proud to die for what is right. For truth. For humanity. Goodbye, niece." He said with a voice full of disdain.  
_  
This was a vision. Just a vision. Not what would happen. Just a dream. Chad was alive. Chad was alive.  
  
Rob wanted to turn his head, to yell, to scream, as Jill killed Chad.  
  
But he couldn't.  
  
It was the most horrific sight.  
  
Jill walked away, remorseless.  
  
Casey leaned down and closed Chad's blue eyes. Then she lifted her heaving frame and followed Jill.  
  
Anna was the lone mourner over the body.  
  
The vision ended as quickly as it had began.  
  
"What was that?" Rob yelled. "CHAD? CHAD?" he yelled, running out into the living room and tackling his brother.  
  
"Dude…" Chad said as Rob knocked all the air out of him. "What is it?"  
  
Rob looked up at Tess, still cradling Chad in his arms. "What was that? Why did you show me that?"  
  
"That was what did happen." She said in a sad voice. "That was the future I arrived in."  
  
"Who? What? What happened?"  
  
"Khivar turned you away from your family. You and Jill, the most powerful of the next generation of children. Jill's sisters and Casey's siblings didn't follow you. Your wife, did, of course."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"The king…the person giving orders to Jill and condemning Chad to die…was you."


	16. 72 Hours To Say Goodbye

  
Rob grasped his flashlight as they entered the house. It was early morning, but the bomb had blown out all the lights in the house, and the kitchen only had one window- which showed a lovely view of a bush. It was a dark room, something that both Rob and Jim had wanted to change, but never got around to. Rob was busy at work, ever dedicated to his job, and Jim was too busy playing golf.  
  
Besides, the flashlight made him feel safe.  
  
Everything was changing, everything was spinning so fast. One day, he was just a sheriff, doing his part to hold up the law. And now…he was an alien, the heir to an alien throne at that, and feeling very unsure.  
  
Jill reached for Rob's hand, and he was glad for the reassurance that she gave with the simple movement.  
  
He wasn't alone.  
  
He had Jill, who was now actually his cousin, not his niece, and he had Casey. Casey. Definitely the best part of this whole deal. She was amazing. He never wanted to let her go…he wanted to hold her hand every day, kiss her lips every night, and wake up beside her each morning. He wanted to marry her…   
  
The thought of marriage hit him like a ton of bricks. He hadn't dated much, well not at all besides the few dates Amy tried setting up for him that didn't work out. And it wasn't like he was young and inexperienced- he was 25 and he had a well paying job…but he never expected to fall so hard and so fast. To be thinking of marrying Casey when only knowing her for such a short time was absurd…but it was Casey…and then it wasn't so absurd after all.  
  
His Dad's voice caught his ears. "Jim's voice" he muttered under his breath as he moved closer to the former Sheriff to understand what he was saying.  
  
"Look at this…these fragments…I've never seen anything like it before."  
  
Rob reached down, somehow hypnotized by the metallic red pieces of metal. They were sharp on his fingers, almost so sharp as to draw blood.  
  
"It's alien." He said, dropping it like a hot potato. "This bomb wasn't about Anna, or about anything else. This bomb was meant for me. Someone is out to kill me."  
  
He looked up at Jim. Jim was straining to keep his face as calm as could be. After these many years, this whole alien thing was picking up steam again. And once again, his loved ones were at risk.  
  
***  
  
"I thought this might happen." Tess said, running her fingers around the rim of her coffee cup. "They've stepped up the procedures…"  
  
"You knew about this? How many other wonderful secrets did you have to keep from us?" Liz snapped, slamming her cup down on the table so hard that it shattered.  
  
"I didn't know what was going to happen for certain. Time is a funny thing. Not everything that people say will happen is true. Did you know that Alex was going to die when you helped out the other Max? I don't know everything, Liz. My life would have been a lot better if I did."  
  
Jim stepped in the middle of the two women, taking a towel and cleaning up the remains of Liz's cup. "We are all on the same side here. There's not time for fighting."  
  
Liz and Tess looked at each other warily. After a few seconds, they both agreed, exchanging a silent nod.  
  
"I think that we should accelerate the mission. Speed up the timetable on which we were going to send Jill and company to the past. We can get the granolith converted within two days, and it will take another day to warm it up."  
  
Jill looked at the trio of older adults. "So we have 72 hours to say goodbye."  
  
Alex reached around and hugged her, adding his strength to her own.

"I got you the plane tickets. Four tickets to Orlando, Florida." Amy said, peeking her head into her son's temporary bedroom at Jill's house.  
  
"You didn't have to do that, Mom." Rob said, catching the Koosh Ball that fell down from the ceiling.  
  
"It's a gift. Learn to accept one." Amy sat down on the bed and ruffled his hair.   
  
"You've raised me. Isn't that a good enough gift?"  
  
"Oh no, you were a gift to me." Amy said, gathering him into a hug. "No matter what anybody says, Mr. King of the Universe, you are my little boy. And I love you very much. I'd give you whatever I could."  
  
Rob blushed. "Mommm…."  
  
"Give an old lady some credit here, ok? You're going off to save the world, and this is the last time I have to be with you."  
  
"Not really. I'm going out with Chad and Anna. To say goodbye. As soon as Casey gets done doing her hair."  
  
"Ahh, thus the moping." She replied with a laugh.  
  
"ROB! The movie shows in twenty minutes! We gotta move!" Anna called from the front hallway. And I'm driving."   
  
Rob rolled his eyes. "Wish me luck."  
  
Amy chuckled. "I wish my car insurance premiums luck."  
  
***  
  
"So Chinese food is supposed to be romantic?" Jill laughed.   
  
"This is Roswell. This is as fancy as it gets."  
  
"What about the Troubadour?"  
  
"The what?"  
  
"The fanciest place in town."  
  
Alex winced. "When I was alive, this was the fanciest place in town."  
  
"No wonder everybody jet setted out of here right after graduation."   
"Do you want to go someplace else?"  
  
Jill laughed. "Nope, I've got you, and this is our first date date. This is fine."  
  
***  
"It figures." Casey said, staring at the television. "Even when I have a boyfriend, I have no social life."  
  
She picked up the remote control. Tess and Liz were busy at work on the granalith, and Jim and Amy were on a run to the food store. Jill and Alex went out on a date, and Rob was out with his siblings, trying to say goodbye.  
  
"Nope, definetly not the documentary on the mating style of locusts."  
  
_Click_  
  
"Or the infomercial on spatulas.."  
  
_Click_  
  
_"You can't go, Tracy. I need you. Does the past few months mean nothing to you?"  
  
"Nick, I have to go. You have Ashlyn now!"  
  
"She's not you!"_  
  
Casey smiled. At least Sydney was on.


	17. I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing

"You really are an alien!" Anna laughed as they came out of the Ciniplex.  
  
"ANNA!" Rob said, raising his hand to cover her mouth. "You can't say things like that!"  
  
Chase sighed. "Calm down, bro. This is Roswell. Aliens are common place."  
  
"Not real ones."   
  
Anna struggled and released her mouth from her brother's hand. "What I meant is, that you're acting weird. Even for you."  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
"She's right Rob. Something's up."  
  
"After all that's happened to me in the last few days, you don't expect me to be a little different? Can't I just treat my siblings and love them? Now let's go shopping!"  
  
Anna's jaw dropping. Rob, who didn't understand the idea of recreational shopping, wanted to shopping. He didn't even know what a mall was.  
  
***  
  
"I'm sorry about earlier." Jill said, taking a small bite of her meal.  
  
"It was a misunderstanding." Alex said. "I really do want the best for you."  
  
"I can't believe that we only have three days. I've got to go home, and say goodbye to my parents, and my sisters, and my brother, and my life…and you."  
  
Alex shook his head. "You're leaving for Florida tomorrow. Tonight's our last night."  
  
"You aren't coming to Florida?"  
  
"I can't, Jill you know that. What if your parents recognized me? What would that do to them? To us?"  
  
"Do you know what leaving you will do to me? I changed your appearance, Alex. They won't recognize you."  
  
"What if do, Jill? Are you willing to pay that price?"  
  
"I want my parents to meet the man I love. I want you to meet my family and see my house. Sorry if that makes me so irresponsible. I love you, Alex, and I don't want to hide it." She stood up and walked out the door, her face streamed with tears.  
  
****  
"What she said was all a lie. I love you."  
  
"But is love enough, Nick? Is it?"  
  
Nick grabbed Tracy and kissed her passionately. The camera zoomed out and focused in on a person in the background.  
  
Casey threw her popcorn at the TV. Why did the writers have to be smoking such crack? Breaking Tracy and Nick up, this was a travesty. And setting Bugs up as the alien who betrayed them all? Not good.   
  
Where was everybody?   
  
She sighed.  
  
"Maybe Animaniacs is on the Cartoon Channel." She said, once more picking up her trusty remote.  
  
***  
  
Anna stared at the package Rob had just given her. "Rob, I can't accept this."  
  
"Yes you can!" he insists.  
  
"No I can't. This isn't my birthday or anything. This is too much."  
  
"It's a sweater."  
  
"A sweater that I saw cost more money than I make in a week in the Crashdown. And Chad, you can't have yours either."  
  
"You can't tell me what to do." Chad said, grasping his gift in my hand. "I like my boxed set of Sydney MDVDs."   
  
"You just want to gawk at the girls."  
  
"What's wrong with that, Anna. I saw you scopin' out all the guys."  
  
Anna blushed. "Shut up."  
  
They climbed into the jeep and Rob started up the car. "You're keeping the presents, and that's final."  
  
Anna slouched down in her seat. "You are acting weird, Robert Maxwell Valenti, and I'm going to find out why."  
  
Rob slammed on the breaks. "You want to know why I'm acting weird? Ok. Jill, Casey, and I have to back and time and change things so that the universe doesn't end. I'm going to Florida with Casey to help her say goodbye, and then we're leaving. And the odds are that I'll never come back."  
  
Anna started crying, the tears pouring down her face. "Rob!" She said, leaning over from the passenger's seat and burying her head in his chest.  
  
In the backseat, silent tears rolled down Chad's face.  
  
***  
  
Alex walked into the cemetery. It gave him the creeps. To think that on at least one level, he was buried here. Why had fate deemed him to beat death? What made him better than anybody else? All he wanted was a normal life, a home and a family. Instead he was thrust into a den of aliens, intrigue, and reality that seemed somewhat like bad science fiction.  
  
But somehow that didn't matter.  
  
What did matter was Jill.  
  
She was amazing…she had brought him back to life in more ways than one. Jill was magical, special, she was a treasure. And somehow she made all this crap that he'd been going through since 1999 worthwhile.  
  
Jill was sitting at his grave, absently tracing the headstone.  
  
"I'm not there." He said, coming behind her touching her shoulder.  
  
Jill jumped. "Alex."  
  
"I'm sorry, Jill. I wasn't being fair to you."  
  
"I wasn't being fair."  
  
They laughed, a nervous laugh.   
  
"I'm afraid Alex. I'm afraid of change. I found you, and I don't want to lose you."  
  
"You could never loose me."  
  
"I'll change the past and you'll love my mother."  
  
"Jill, I love you. No matter what happens, I'll love you. Whatever happens, I'll keep you in my heart…being around you has changed everything in my life for the better."  
  
"So…" Jill said shaking her head. "Where does this leave us?"  
  
"Even though I'm still wary of it, I'm going with you. If I only have a little bit more time with you, I don't want to miss a second."  
  
***  
  
Casey sighed.  
  
First, a slightly messed up Jill had been carried in the house by a giggling Alex. They waved "hi" to Casey, but ran upstairs quickly, without any further comments.  
  
Then Anna had been led into the house by Chad, both with tearstained faces.   
  
This was their last night in Roswell, and she was having a ball.  
  
There was no sign of Rob.   
  
She'd flipped through the channels of the TV, and there was absolutely nothing on. It was pathetic.  
  
The door opened, and Casey looked up. It was Rob.  
  
She ran to the hallway, and into his arms. "I was worried." She said, placing a kiss on his chin.  
  
"I had something to do."  
  
"Chad and Anna were back quite a bit ago."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Oh fine, Rob Valenti, go ahead and be a cheesehead!"  
  
Rob sighed. "Don't be mad."  
  
"What, I shouldn't be mad when I've been alone all evening? I was lonely, Rob. And then you come in a long time after everyone gets back, and you are really distant. What am I supposed to do?"  
  
He gritted his teeth. "You're supposed to be silent and just let me propose!" Rob cried out with an air of desperation.


	18. Fears, Motion Sickness, and My Father

Jill shifted nervously in her seat, and shifted again.  
  
Alex placed his hand on hers. "Calm. Down." He said in a quiet voice.  
  
Jill shifted again.  
  
Alex sighed. "What is it?"  
  
"I don't like to fly."  
  
"Jill, it was perfectly safe back in my day. So now it's probably like a thousand times safer."  
  
She shook her head. "My feet were meant to stay on the ground. If I was meant to fly, I'd have wings."  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Would it help if I held your hand?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
Alex laughed. "I just don't get it."  
  
"Call it an inborn alien trait."  
  
He shrugged. "Casey doesn't seem to be having a problem."  
  
"Do you know how many aromatherapy substances her mother sniffed when she was pregnant with her? And you expect to be normal?"  
  
"Knowing Maria, a lot. Ok. Point made. Not to mention that any of Maria and Michael's offspring is naturally going to be a little…quirky."  
  
Jill snorted. "Casey…quirky?"  
  
Casey came skipping down the aisle, dragging Rob behind her.  
  
"Back so soon?" Alex joked, looking the couple.  
  
"It's about time for takeoff. They made us take our seats." Casey said, frowning. Then she gave a little happy hop, pointing to an object on the collar of her shirt. "Look! I've got pilot's wings! But they won't let me fly the plane."  
  
Jill groaned and turned an interesting shade of white.  
  
"Casey, honey, you have to go to pilot school to fly a plane." Rob said, gently caressing her hand.  
  
"You don't have to go to Hamburger University to flip hamburgers."  
  
"Please." Jill said, whimpering. "Casey, please don't talk about flying the plane any more."  
  
Casey shrugged, and sat down in the window seat across the aisle from Alex and Jill. "It's really all minor details. I mean really. A license? Who cares?"  
  
"Seat belt." Rob ordered, gazing at the flight attendant's safety demonstration on the television screen in front of him.  
  
The plane started to move, and Jill jumped.  
  
"That's normal." Alex reassured her. "We're preparing to take off."  
  
"Please let me live through this." Jill whispered, clutching Alex's hand.  
  
Alex squeezed her hand. "If you're so afraid of flying, how did you get from Florida to Roswell?"  
  
"I drove."  
  
"You know, statically, flying is much more safe than…"  
  
"Damn the statistics!" She snapped, squeezing his hand even harder as the plane ascended into the sky.  
  
Rob tried breathing calmly. In and out, in and out. Soothing, nice breaths.   
  
But those breaths didn't help too much.   
  
He grasped at the seat pocket in front of him, till he got a hold of what he wanted. He put the bag up to his mouth and let nature take it's course.  
  
"Ewwww" Casey said. "I can't believe you barfed!" She pushed the attendant button rapidly.  
  
"Are you ok, Rob?" Jill asked, concerned.  
  
The attendant, very upset, came up to the seat, where Rob was still hunched over, holding Jill's barf bag, having filled his own.   
  
"What do you want?" She growled. "We're still ascending to our travel altitude. What is so frantic that it couldn't wait?"  
  
"My fiancé got sick. It smells disgusting and if I have to sit next to it for another minute, I'll barf."  
  
"Would you like me to move your fiancé to another seat?"   
  
"No!" Casey said, her hair bobbing up and down. "I want you take the barf bag! I love my fiancé."  
  
The stewardess took the bag and turned to speak to Rob. "Sir, feel free to get up and use the lavatories if you need to. I'll bring you a Sprite that might help to settle your stomach.  
  
"Thanks" Rob said with a grateful smile.  
  
Jill and Alex sat across the aisle, with identical shocked expressions on their faces.   
  
"Your fiancé?" Jill shrieked, "You got engaged and didn't tell me?"  
  
"Wow. Just wow." Alex said.  
  
Casey nodded. "I got me a good one, finally, Jill! He's prone to motion sickness, but besides that, he's perfect!"  
  
"Congratulations." Jill said, feeling a little envious of her best friend.  
  
***  
  
"What is it? Why won't they move the plane?" Casey said, sitting impatiently in her seat. "You did take the Dramamine, didn't you honey?"  
  
"Yes." Rob sighed. After going through the collective four barf bags of his travel party in the first flight, he just hoped that the medicine worked.  
  
Jill sat slumped in her seat. She was happy for Casey, she was. Rob was a great guy, and together they made a great couple. It was really romantic, how they had become a couple so soon after meeting- immediately after they found out they weren't relatives. It was like a fairy tale, with a happy ending.  
  
Jill loved Alex dearly. But it wouldn't be a fairy tale. She thought of what she had to- thinking about the mission made her head hurt.  
  
Casey would have a happy ever after.  
  
And she wouldn't. So she was jealous of her cousin and her best friend. Jill had always believed in the power of dreaming, and now it seemed like everything was ending.  
  
"I love you." Alex whispered, leaning over and putting his lean arms around her body.   
  
"I love you." He emphasized again, kissing her face.   
  
She let herself sink into his embrace, but a nagging thought at the back of her head reminded her that this romance was thriving on borrowed time.  
  
***  
  
"Car." Jill sighed, looking at the blue Jetta they'd rented. "I don't care if I never see an airplane again in my life."  
  
"Who wants to drive?" Casey asked, jingling the keys in her hand. Rob, Alex, and Jill continued to look unenthusiastic. "Ok, I will." She chirped, and leapt into the driver's seat.  
  
Jill climbed into the back, and put on her seatbelt. She leaned on Alex's chest. "You're comfy, you know that?"  
  
"Yeah." He replied, patting her golden hair. "I know you're perfect."  
  
"Next stop, home!" Casey squealed as she peeled out of the parking lot.  
  
Rob said a silent prayer that his Dramamine would hold.  
  
***  
  
Alex gazed at the town, transfixed by the setting. "So this is where Jill Diane Valenti grew up."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Casey checked her watch. "It's gonna be awhile before anybody's home. So what should we do until then?"  
  
"Same thing we do every night, try to take over the world?" Alex joked.  
  
"What?" Casey said. "And you call me weird."  
  
"Is my Dad buried here?" Rob said in a quiet voice. He'd been silent since they reached the town.  
  
"Uncle Max? Yeah, we can take you by the memorial." Casey said in a quiet voice.  
  
Rob turned to his friends. "No offense, guys, but this is something I kind of have to do by myself."  
  
They nodded sympathetically.  
  
"I can show Alex my old High School…and then we can meet up at the Nut Hut?" Jill suggested.  
  
"Sounds good." Rob said in a quiet voice. "Case, do you mind showing me where it is?"  
  
"No problem." She said, squeezing his hand. "It's all in a day's work for a fiancé."  
  
"Say about 45 minutes?" Casey asked.   
  
"See ya then." Jill said as she pulled Alex across the street.  
  
***  
  
Rob looked at the stone.  
  
Somehow, it was intimidating.  
  
His father wasn't there. He didn't believe that the soul stayed in the body after death, and besides Max's body was there.  
  
But this stone proved that Max Evans had existed.   
  
Max Evans had worth. He was valued. He was loved. He was a real person.  
  
Rob had always had images of a man in the back of his mind. The man was kind and took good care of him. The man was strong, and he could feel the love flowing from the man.  
  
Rob had never dreamed that the man in his images was actually his father.  
  
He'd never dreamed that he was adopted, either. He had a wonderful family. He was proud to be a Valenti. He loved Amy, who baked the best pies of any mother in his class. He loved Chad and Anna, because they were fun to torture and to spoil. He wanted to be like Jim, to be the strong and dominating family man.  
  
Was he like Max?  
  
He couldn't wait to talk to Jill's mom. She would remember Max, and tell him stories. Tell him how he resembled this man who died saving his only son.  
  
He touched the headstone.  
  
**Maxwell Evans  
Forever May You Live in Our Hearts  
Beloved Friend, Father, Son and Brother**  
**The Stars Will Light Your Way**  
  
No birth date, no death date.   
  
Just a memorial.  
  
Rob traced the raised letters.  
  
**M-A-X.**  
  
His vision blurred, and suddenly he wasn't in the cemetery anymore. He was in a white area, so pure, so fresh, so clean. Rob could feel the white when he breathed.  
  
_"Rob"_ An unfamiliar voice called him.  
  
He looked up. It was his father, looking even younger than Rob was right now.  
  
"Dad." Rob stood up. "It's you."  
  
_"Do you know how proud of you I am?" His Dad said. "I watch you, Rob. You're fearless. You're good in your job, you're good to your family. You're an outstanding boy…uh, man…and I'm glad to call you my son."  
_  
"You are? I wish I knew you…I have so many questions, and I…"  
  
_"Shhh." Max put his arm around his son's shoulders. "I only have a little bit of time here, Rob. I wish I could give you all the answers now, but you have to learn them on your own, just as I did. Keep your courage around you in the future, son. You'll need it."  
_  
The vision started to fade, but Rob fought to keep a hold on it. He didn't want to leave his father. He wanted to stay here in the white room, where everything was safe.  
  
_"The mission is only the beginning of the journey, Rob. I love you." Max said, giving him a hug._  
  
And then Max and the white room faded away, as quickly as they had come.  
  
Casey's arms were around him as he woke up.   
  
"Are you ok?" She asked, her face full of concern. "I found you face first in the dirt."  
  
Rob's eyes were bright. "I saw him, Case. I saw my father!"  
  



	19. Welcome Home

  
The car stopped.  
  
"Here we are." Casey announced. "Home sweet home."  
  
"Which is which?" Rob said, scrutinizing the houses, pretty much similar in design.  
  
"The purple house is ours, it's my Mom's favorite color." Casey replied.  
  
The door to the yellow house opened, and a short little boy ran out, trailed closely by a brunette teenager.  
  
"Jilly! Jilly!" The boy cried, running down the driveway. "You home! You home!"  
  
Jill climbed out of her seat and embraced the little boy. "Hey M-A-V!" She said spinning him around. "I've missed you."  
  
He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Case! Case!" He said, seeing his cousin.   
  
Casey smiled and took the squirming toddler from Jill. "Have you grown Max?"  
  
He grinned. "I'm a big boy!" Then Max Alexander caught sight of Alex and Rob. "Who are you?" He asked, his eyes growing wide.  
  
"They are our friends." Jill explained. "This is Charles, and that's Rob. Guys, this is my little brother…"  
  
"Not little" he pouted  
  
"My brother, Max Alexander. We call him MAV for short." Jill explained, reaching over and tickled her brother.  
  
Max's eyes grew wide. "Charles is old. And Rob's just like me. He's special like me. Does he have powers? Does his Momma get mad if he uses them out in poo-blic?"  
  
Jill and Casey exchanged a glance. No one in the family doubted that Max Alexander was special. He'd started using his powers earlier than his sisters and the Guerins. Using his powers was natural to Max, and they feared that someone, the wrong someone would find him and take him away. He also had more powers than anybody, even Michael and Isabel. Maxwell Alexander Valenti was a very special young boy, a fact that both delighted and scared his family.  
  
The teenager, now out of breath, approached the group. "Jill, Who are the babes?"  
  
Jill rolled her eyes. "This is my sister Tara. She's boy crazy."  
  
"I appreciate and enjoy males. That's not being boy crazy."  
  
Rob and Alex exchanged a smile.   
  
"I'm Charles." Alex announced. "Your sister's boyfriend."  
  
"And I have a very jealous fiancée." Rob added.  
  
Casey punched him in the gut.   
  
Rob grimaced and put his arms around Casey's shoulders. "Isn't she lovely?"  
  
***  
  
Now he knew how criminals felt when he interrogated them.  
  
Scared. Nervous. Sweaty. Sick, even.  
  
This was the most difficult thing he had ever done.   
  
Whatever didn't kill him would make him stronger. Right? Right?  
  
Rob glanced up into the pair of eyes studying him like a hawk. The brown eyes didn't betray a single feeling or thought.  
  
He would never look at the movie, "Meet the Parents" the same way again.  
  
"So." Michael Guerin stated, sitting down at his large, worn, paint splattered desk.   
  
Rob shifted. He had super powers. He could stand any, and every horror movie, good or bad, scary and gory ever made. So why was this confrontation with his father-in-law to be scaring him so much?   
  
"You want to marry my daughter."  
  
"Yes sir." Breathe. He only had to breathe.  
  
"Don't you find it a little odd that, you, her Uncle, has such type feelings for my daughter?"  
  
"It…It…It's not incest." Rob said, feeling his tongue swell with the sound of each letter.  
  
Michael's eyebrows lifted. "It's not?"  
  
"I'm not really her Uncle."   
  
His eyebrows went even further up, almost reaching his spiky brown hair. "You are the son of Jim and Amy Valenti?"  
  
"Sort of."  
  
"Sort of?"  
  
"I'm adopted."  
  
Michael laughed. "If Jim and Amy adopted a child they would have told us."  
  
Rob shook his head. "They couldn't."  
  
"And just why couldn't they, then, Mr. Valenti?"  
  
"Because it would have broke my cover."  
  
"Cover? You certainly do have an imagination."  
  
Rob couldn't take anymore. It was obvious that Mr. Guerin didn't like him, and that he wouldn't consider anything he would say. So he let it all fly.  
  
"I wish all that I had was an imagination. But it's not. I have a legacy. A legacy that I don't really want, a legacy that I really don't know anything about. I was fine just being the son of Jim and Amy Valenti, but that isn't my destiny. No. I couldn't have it that simple, I couldn't just stay the Sheriff of a small little town. No. Instead, I'm supposed to be some sort of alien heir to a planet that I know nothing about. My father's dead and my mother was possessed by some other sort of alien when she became pregnant with me. And yes, I do love your daughter. I love her with all my heart and soul. Because in the middle of all this craziness and absurdity, she is the only thing that makes sense. I love Casey and nothing you say or do can ever stop me. She is my destiny."  
  
Michael was staring at him, as if seeing him for the first time. "You're an alien."  
  
"Who isn't?" Rob huffed.  
  
"Your father's dead?"  
  
"So I've been told."  
  
Michael was silent for a second. "I can't believe it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're Max's son. He found you. He didn't die in vain."  
  
"I'm Max's son." Rob repeated. "He gave me to Jim to raise."  
  
Michael crossed the room and gave Rob a hug, catching Rob by surprise. "Welcome to family." He said, his voice gruff. "If you're anything like your father you fell in love with my girl at first sight. And anything I say to keep you away from her won't work at all."  
  
***  
  
"I want to watch Sydney." Robin said, wrestling Tara for the remote.  
  
"I need complete silence. I'm waiting for Eric to call." Tara reasoned.   
  
Jill came back in the room, and gave Alex a hug. "Mav's all tucked in."  
  
"Jill! Tell Tara I want to watch TV!"  
  
"Jill! Tell Robin I need silence. Eric, is only like the cutest guy in school."  
  
Jill rolled her eyes. "You guys are twenty and eighteen years old. I thought you would have gotten over this prepubescent arguing ages ago."  
  
Robin sighed. "If Josh wasn't visiting his grandmother, I could be having fun right now."  
  
"You are too dependent on your man." Tara rolled her eyes.  
  
"This from the girl who wants complete silence so she can wait for a boy's phone call?"   
  
"Get a life."  
  
"No, you get a life!"  
  
Both sisters looked at Jill.  
  
She shrugged. "Don't look at me. I've got Charles, and I'm happy."  
  
The door opened, and the Valenti parents stepped in the house.   
  
"Mom!" Tara and Jill chorused. "She won't let me…"  
  
"Oh, can it." Kyle said, coming over and giving his daughters a hug. "If I don't have the world's silliest…" He trailed off as he looked behind him. "Jilly! You're home!"  
  
Isabel stood silently in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of her.


	20. Second Sight

  
Kyle pulled Jill up from the chair where she was sitting and hugged her. "Sport, I didn't expect to see you."  
  
"It was sort of a spur of the moment trip, Daddy." Jill said, giving him a hug back. "So I thought I'd surprise you."  
  
"Well, you're always the best kind of surprise." Kyle said giving him a hug. "Who's this?" He asked, pulling away from Jill. "You have a boyfriend?"  
  
Jill beamed. "Daddy, this is Charles."  
  
A door slam cut off the words that Kyle was about to say. "Iz? Izzy?" He cried, heading towards the kitchen.  
  
"MOM?" Robin and Tara cried, following their Dad. "Are you ok?"  
  
Alex reached up and grabbed Jill's hand. "She saw me. Jill, she saw me."  
  
"You are in disguise. She couldn't see you."  
  
"Then why did she look like that? I know Isabel. I know how she looks at me and I know that she was looking at me."  
  
"That's ridiculous."  
  
"No. It's not."  
  
Jill sighed and headed towards the kitchen. Robin and Tara were standing outside. "What's going on?"  
  
Tara pulled her head away from the door. "Arguing. Which means in about an hour, they'll be making up like rabbits. I'm out of here."  
  
"Tara. Don't compare our parents to overzealous breeding rodents." Robin slugged her sister in the arm. "It's not nice."  
  
"Yeah, but it's true. The last really major argument they had resulted in Max Alexander."  
  
The sisters exchanged a look. "If they emerge without being lip locked, Jill, tell them that we went out."  
  
Alex turned to her. "Is that true?"  
  
Jill laughed. "Somewhat. But Aunt Maria and Uncle Mike are way worse."  
  
"Why am I not surprised?" Alex muttered.   
  
"Shhh." Jill said, holding her head to the door. "I'm trying to listen."  
  
***  
  
Rob emerged from Michael's study, beaming with his thumbs up.  
  
"It went well?" Casey squeaked.  
  
"We have our issues worked out." Michael said, coming up behind Rob. "However, if he breaks your heart, I'll break every single bone in his body."  
  
"Now that sounds familiar." Maria laughed. "My husband is turning into my mother."  
  
Michael rolled his eyes. "If I didn't love you, it would be impossible to put up with you, you know that?"  
  
"Lucky for us, the feeling is mutual." Maria snorted. "So this is Max's son?" Casey had a long heartfelt talk with her mother while Rob was facing Michael's interrogation. "I see him in you."  
  
"Really?" Rob beamed.  
  
"Yup. And do I have some stories to tell you…" Maria laughed. "But after dinner. It's time to feed the maddening hoard."  
  
Rob shot Casey a look. "Should I be afraid?"  
  
She chuckled. "With my siblings, you probably should."  
  
***  
  
_"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing…I'm tired…"  
  
"Isabel, that's a lie. I can see through that."  
  
"Kyle, just because I don't feel like baring my soul to you…"  
  
"I know your soul, ok? I know what each and every one of your usual facial movements mean. I know the underlying words that go unspoken when you talk. I know when you're happy, and I know when you're sad. You don't have to bare your soul to me, because your soul is part of mine. We're joined together, Isabel, and that's forever."  
  
"You're insecure." She said a hint of wonder coming to her voice. "After all these years you still aren't sure about us."  
  
"Isabel.."  
  
"You know that I love you, don't you?"  
  
"Of course I do." He said, his voice growing warmer. "But that still doesn't stop me from being scared."  
  
"Scared?"  
  
"Scared that I'll loose you like every other woman that's ever mattered in my life. My mother, who I can barely remember, Tess, and I just can't loose you, Is. I can't."  
  
"You'll never loose me. I'll never be farther away than your heart. I love you." _  
  
"They're on their way to making up." Jill whispered. "Looks like the love fest forecast was correct."  
  
Alex groaned. Too much information.  
  
_"Tell me what's wrong."  
  
"I…it's really nothing…"  
  
"You ran in here from the front door and slammed the door. That's something."  
  
"I…I'm just imagining things, going crazy. It's nothing."  
  
"Tell me."  
  
"Charles…for a second, I swore I saw Alex sitting there."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I must be going crazy or something. Alex has been dead for years, Kyle. Why am I seeing him?"  
  
"Oh, Iz." Kyle said, walking over and embracing her. "He looks somewhat familiar, but I didn't think he looked like Alex. You've been stressed lately at work, and upset about Jill moving away. Plus you know that Robin's in a serious relationship, and Tara's going off to college. Things are changing rapidly- which reminds you of when Alex died."  
  
"So you don't think I'm crazy?"  
  
"No, but I'm crazy for you."_  
  
Jill moved away from the door and pulled Alex. "They'll be heading towards the bedroom soon. Head for the couch—NOW!"   
  
Certainly enough, just after Jill and Alex sat down and turned on the TV, the kitchen door opened. Kyle carried his giggling wife down the hall.  
  
Alex rolled his eyes. There were some things he really didn't want to see.  
  
***  
  
They were all seated calmly at the table, 4 pairs of eyes staring directly at him. Casey's siblings. They looked like a pack of vultures, awaiting the kill.  
  
Maria walked out from the kitchen, with Michael following closely behind. "Go on, sit down, Rob."  
  
He took a deep breath and sat down in the chair by Casey.   
  
"WHOOA!" he yelled, feeling something sharp on his behind.   
  
The siblings giggled.   
  
Rob turned around and saw the offending object- a pine cone was lying on his chair.  
  
Casey looked over and laughed. "Todd…"  
  
"What?" A ten year old boy with spiky blond hair said, looking up from his plate.  
  
"No more tricks."  
  
"Whatever." The boy rolled his eyes.  
  
"Drinks. I forgot drinks!" Maria said, starting to get up from the table.  
  
"No." The tall sixteen year old, almost a mirror image of his father at the same age, said. "I'll get them for you, Mom."  
  
Maria beamed. "Why, thanks, Noah."  
  
" 'Taint no thing." He smiled. A few moments later he returned with a tray full of drinks.  
  
Rob took his and nodded graciously. Just a plain coke. It should be ok.  
  
He took a single sip, and his vision blurred.  
  
***  
  
He couldn't sleep.   
  
Jill could, however. She was sleeping up a storm. Being home seemed to agree with her, and she'd fallen asleep while watching Allie and Buggs get in a catfight over Jason on "Sydney".  
  
Alex was still up, hours later, catching the episode where Bonnie got drunk. Drunk Bonnie was funny, but her antics dragging Zan behind her weren't exactly sleep inspiring.  
  
He sighed and got up. Some ancient game show was coming on, and he needed to strech.  
  
Jill moaned and reached out for him, as if he were still there. It melted his heart. Jill was beautiful, both inside and out. Alex considered himself lucky for getting to spend each and every moment with her that he did. He treasured them. A woman like Jill was a luxury that few men got in their lives, and a need that they spent years looking for.  
  
Milk. Amy De Luca had sworn up and down that a simple glass of cold milk would help anybody get to sleep.   
  
He headed out to the kitchen and looked into the refrigerator. "Soy Milk?" He muttered. "Where's the real stuff that comes from the cow? And when did they become such health food nuts?"  
  
Alex turned to the cupboards, searching for a cup. He couldn't be rude and just drink out of the carton, like he always did at home. He was company. But where in the heck did they hide their cups?  
  
"Can I help you?"  
  
Alex jumped at the sound. He turned around slowly.  
  
Isabel stood there, clad in a long white nightgown and a terrycloth robe. "Is there something that you need?"


	21. Dinner Disaster

The world was spinning. Spinning and turning and flipping and blurring. This was fun.  
  
"Rob? Rob?" Casey asked worriedly. "Are you ok?"  
  
He laughed. "O….K…..no, I'm RU."  
  
"What?"  
  
He looked at Casey. She was beautiful. She looked like an angel.   
  
"You're amazing. You look gorgeous."  
  
A smile slid over Casey's face. "Rob…"  
  
"And you have really nice boobs."  
  
Maria choked on her mashed potatoes, while Casey's mouth dropped open. Michael gripped his fork so tightly that his knuckles turned completely white.  
  
Rob laughed and pulled Casey up out of her chair. "Let's get out of here." He said in a low voice, pulling her out of the house.  
  
"What in the?" Michael fumed.  
  
And then he looked at Noah, his oldest son. Noah was laughing, laughing to the point that tears flowed down his face.  
  
"What's so funny?"   
  
Noah tried to catch his breath. "It's just…It's just…just…Casey's loser boyfriend."  
  
"I think he's cute!" 14 year old Chelsey exclaimed.   
  
"He has big ears." Bianca said, trying to sound more dignified than her 11 years would let her be.  
  
"Look!" Maria exclaimed.  
  
The streetlight in front of the Guerin house seemed to be spinning, refracting light like a disco ball.   
  
"I'll be darned." Michael muttered. "That's just like Max…"  
  
"When he was drunk." Maria finished.  
  
Together, they turned towards Noah.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Noah…"   
  
"It was just a little bit of the Vodka that Mom keeps hidden."  
  
"You know about that?" Maria exclaimed, her mouth dropping open. "Noah James Guerin, you're underage!"  
  
"Are you gonna punish me?"  
  
"I'll do the same thing to you when you bring a date to dinner, Mister." Maria warned her son. "But I don't know about your father."  
  
Michael smiled and patted his son on the shoulders. "Don't worry, Son. I'm not as lenient as your mother."  
  
***  
  
"I was just looking for some milk."  
  
"Can't sleep?" Isabel walked over to a counter and handed him a mug. "One of my friend's mother's swore that milk would cure insomnia. That, and a couple of herbal supplements." She smiled.  
  
Alex filled the mug with milk and took a big sip.  
  
"You remind me…"  
  
"What?" Alex said, looking up into her eyes. Her eyes hadn't changed. They were still brown, the same brown eyes that had begged him to take her to the prom. The same brown eyes that cried when Max was in the white room.  
  
She really hadn't changed at all. She was the same Isabel, his Isabel.  
  
"Never mind. We weren't properly introduced. I'm Isabel Valenti, Jill's mom."  
  
He nodded. "Nice to meet you. I'm Charles."  
  
She sat down at the small kitchen table. "So where did you meet my daughter?"  
  
Alex sat down in the seat across from her. "In…In…In Roswell. I was actually at her house."  
  
"What? I know for a fact that house has been abandoned for years."  
  
Alex gulped. This was the moment of truth. He could come right out and say it. "Isabel, I'm Alex. I've been on a higher evolutionary plane for about a quarter of a century. But I'm back now, and more alive than ever." But that sucked.  
  
A light gleaming outside caught his attention. Was that a ….disco ball? It couldn't be.   
  
And then he looked back at Isabel.  
  
She looked older. She wasn't a fiery young blond, she was a mother raising four children. The kitchen was covered with crayon drawings, some yellowed with age, and some still retaining that crayon smell. Snapshots of Isabel and Kyle with their children at different places were scattered all over the house.   
  
Isabel was different. She wasn't the same Isabel he'd known. This Isabel was a mother. She didn't seem to be as restless as before. This Isabel had purpose—a definition.  
  
He could tell Isabel who he was. But what would that prove? He'd throw her and her world in a whirlpool. He'd hurt Isabel, Kyle, Jill, Tara, Robin, and little Max.   
  
His death had thrown his friends into a spiral of pain and tears. He wouldn't let his being alive do the same thing.  
  
"I'm actually a distant relative" he said in a cautious voice "of the people that used to live in the house. I came to town to see if they were in Roswell, and I found Jill instead."  
  
"Oh. I used to know the people that lived in that house. A long, long, time ago. Before you were born."  
  
Alex chuckled. If only she knew. If only she knew.


	22. Viva Las Vegas

"I hate airports. I hate planes. I hate anything that has the word air in it, except for oxygen because I need that to breathe." Jill sighed.  
  
"At least your head isn't spinning." Rob groaned.  
  
"Never get on a Guerin's bad side." Jill advised. "I should have told you to be careful."  
  
"We're a close family." Casey interjected. "What's wrong with that?"  
  
"You're like the mafia."  
  
"Careful Valenti, or you'll wake up with a horse's head next to you."  
  
Jill laughed. "Nah, that's just Alex!"  
  
"Hey!" Alex said, slugging Jill in the side. "I am not a horse."  
  
"Whatever you say, Mr. Ed."  
  
"Mr. Ed?"  
  
Casey laughed and joined in. "A horse is a horse,of course of course.."  
  
Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm actually beginning to see why you two are best friends."  
  
Rob groaned. "Oh no."  
  
"What?" Jill exclaimed. "Oh and no are two words high on the list of words I don't want to hear when I'm about to board a plane."  
  
"Our tickets are for the wrong flight."  
  
"No way!"  
  
"Oh goody." Alex groaned.  
  
"So what do we do?"   
  
"Simple, Case. Hand me your tickets. And we're right in time for the flight." Rob waved his hands over the tickets and changed them. "Let's go."  
  
Jill groaned. "Can't we just access the granolith from here?"  
  
"One more flight, and you won't ever have to fly again." Alex said, taking her hand and squeezing it.  
  
"Yeah, I'll just have to be hurled through time and cause my own life impossible. We have no idea how fast that thing goes—it is FDA approved?"  
  
"Obviously you don't use the same mantras that your Dad used to calm himself down."  
  
She sighed. "I will not be calm until my feet are on solid ground."  
  
The group filed onto the plane, Alex dragging Jill behind him. All four sat down, not looking forward to the journey that lay before them.  
  
As the stewardess welcomed everyone aboard, Rob looked at his friends, his expression full of fear.   
  
"I forgot my Dramamine!" he wailed, drowning out the announcement of the flight's destination.  
  
***  
  
She was so comfy. She had the most wonderful pillow, soft yet firm, and warm, very warm…complete with a soothing noise. But it didn't last for long. Suddenly she was being shaken…she was in an earthquake…  
  
Her eyes grudgingly opened. "Alex…"  
  
He sighed. "Trust me Jill, the last thing I would want to do is wake you up when you aren't wigging out for a change. But the sign just came on for us to return our seats to their normal, upright position."  
  
"Bite me." She groaned. "If the plane crashes, we'll all be dead anyway."  
  
Alex rolled his eyes. "The plane is not going to crash. It is going to land. Safely."  
  
The captain's voice rang out over the intercom. "We are beginning our descent into beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada. The weather in Las Vegas is hot and sunny…"  
  
"What in the…" Jill muttered. "This is all wrong. I'm not getting back on a plane again."  
  
Casey turned to Rob with fire in her eyes. "Rob, the tickets were correct, weren't they?"  
  
Rob avoided eye contact, instead looking at the free in-flight magazine the airline provided.  
  
"Robert Maxwell Valenti! If you want me to continue to be my fiancé, you will tell me what in the world possessed you to change our tickets to take us to the Rat Pack capital of the world?"  
  
"I thought we could all use to blow some steam."  
  
"I'm not buying it, Valenti. I can blow plenty of steam relaxing in Jill's bathtub, letting Calgon take me away, or watching those madcap antics of the Sydney gang. Not embracing Elvis and singing "Viva Las Vegas"!"  
  
Rob sighed. "Look it, I just didn't want to go on some stupid mission without having you as my wife!"  
  
Casey's mouth dropped open. "You mean it?"  
  
"Would I yell it out loud to an entire plane if I didn't mean it?" Rob said, noticing that the entire plane was looking at them.  
  
A spontaneous burst of applause went through the cabin as Rob thoroughly kissed his bride to be.  
  
***  
  
"Bright light city, gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire.."   
  
Jill groaned. "Casey, would you shut up!"  
  
"You party pooper! It's my wedding day!"  
  
"I thought you weren't going to embrace Elvis and sing "Viva Las Vegas." Alex said, leaning back into the plush leather seat of the limo.  
  
"I don't care. Seize the day, for tomorrow isn't ours to keep!"  
  
Jill groaned, and drank the sparkling water down. It was her best friends wedding day. She should be happy. But deep down inside, Jill wanted to be the bride, not the bridesmaid.  
  
***  
  
"It's beautiful!"  
  
Alex turned towards Jill. "Oh, so now you're starting to get excited, huh?"  
  
"I've never had a whole suite all to myself before. Don't you think it's amazing?"  
  
"I've been here before. Not this exclusively, but I've been here, in this very suite before."  
  
Jill's eyebrows lifted. "In the Presidential suite?"  
  
"Yup." He shrugged.  
  
Her hands went on her hips. "With who?"  
  
"Your mother…"  
  
"My MOTHER?"  
  
"And your father, Michael, Maria, Tess, Liz, and Max."  
  
She chuckled. "Yeah, right. Like eight teenagers would just take off and go to Vegas."  
  
"We did."  
  
She shook her head. "Inconceivable!"  
  
"I've got the fake I.D. to prove it…" He held out a small piece of plastic.   
  
"Tom Collins?"  
  
"I grabbed it before we left home."  
  
"You knew about this?"  
  
"I had no idea! You just never know when a fake ID will come in handy."  
  
"Alex, you're way past the age of needing one of these."  
  
"Yeah, but I only look 18."  
  
"Well, nobody's going to believe that age, anyway." Jill ran her hand over the ID. "See, now that's believable."  
  
"Thank you." Alex said, kissing her lips.  
  
A knock sounded on the door.  
  
"Jill, Jill, Jill, Jill, Jill!" Casey squealed. "The Honeymoon suite is wonderful!"  
  
"I wouldn't know." She replied drolly. "Shouldn't you wait until after you are married to go in there?"  
  
"We just dropped off the bags! We have a tight schedule, Jilly. Rob's gonna plan the wedding while we go dress shopping. And maybe.." Casey said with a gleam in her eye, "We'll have time for this."  
  
Alex grabbed the flier out of her hand. "Absolutely not."  
  
Casey's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"  
  
"They want singing strippers, Casey. And we have to leave this era early tomorrow. Not time for a job."  
  
"How do you know this?"  
  
"Your Mom tried out. I played the piano for her."  
  
Jill lead a dazed Casey to the door. "My Mom tried out to be a STRIPPER?"  
  
***  
  
Jill gazed at herself in the mirror. The dress was gorgeous, and she felt like a princess in it. The long, flowing skirt had delicate beadwork and embroidery. The top had a plunging neckline, showing off her stature, and the scarlet red color truly did look good on her. This was the dress—the dress she'd wear as her best friend's maid of honor.  
  
"Jill?" Casey's voice sounded a little shaky, missing it's usual veneer of confidence. "I'm ready."  
  
Jill turned around and saw Casey walk out the dressing room door, a vision in white. Tears clouded in her eyes. "You look beautiful."  
  
"You really think so?" Casey asked, joining Jill in front of the mirror. "It doesn't make me look fat or anything?"   
  
"It makes you look.." Jill said, smoothing an errant lock of Casey's brown hair. "It makes you look like a princess."  
  
***  
  
"Here Comes the Bride" played on the Electric piano.  
  
Through the veil, Casey could see Jill, standing off to the side, looking like a fashion model, in her glamorous red dress. Did Jill realize how much she looked like her mother?  
  
Alex was tall, tall and strong, smiling in a tuxedo. It was still strange to think that he was actually the same age as her parents…  
  
And then she saw Rob. Rob. Her heart beat faster. Rob. Her Rob.   
  
All the years that she'd spent dreaming of her perfect guy, all the Saturday nights she stayed home while Jill was out on dates, all the crushes she'd had on celebrity guys had all lead up to this moment.  
  
Casey looked into Rob's eyes, the same eyes that drew her to him, right after crashing that silly shopping cart into his butt- and walked down the aisle.  
  
Rob was her happiness. Rob was her destiny.  
  
Her voice did not shake as she recited her vows in front of the Elvis officiator.   
  
***  
  
He couldn't find Jill. He was worried. Where could she be? After the reception, she had ran off. He tried the room, but she wasn't there.  
  
Alex strolled through the gambling casino, listening to the soft "noodle-oo's" of the slot machines.  
  
"Hit Me."   
  
Alex's heart soared at the sound of the familiar voice.  
  
Jill Valenti was sitting at the Blackjack gaming table, surrounded by a pile of chips. He watched awestruck, as the dealer added even more chips to her stack.  
  
"You take after your father."  
  
Jill jumped. "Alex!"  
  
"I was worried."  
  
"I just needed to be by myself, ok?"  
  
"Give me a few." He took a small stack of chips.  
  
"Statistics. Bet it all and win large- that's the way to go." Alex explained. "Hit me."  
  
Jill chuckled. "No, that's the way to get him to take all your money away! You really took that one in the pants."  
  
"You are really too much like your father."  
  
"That isn't exactly the best way to flatter a girl, Alex."  
  
"Come with me." He grabbed her hand and lead her away from the tables.   
  
"My money…"  
  
"Oh, let it go to charity."  
  
  
***  
  
Jill sighed as she twirled in Alex's arms. "I have to be, like the biggest freak on the planet."  
  
Alex shook his head. "You're not a freak."  
  
"It's my best friend's wedding day! I should be happy, jumping off the wall, doing somersaults, she would be for me, but I…"  
  
He let her cry into his shoulder. "It's ok, Izzy. I mean Jill...I'm sorry, that was stupid of me. I'm here with you, Jill."  
  
"I don't want to be alone." She sniffed.  
  
He put his hands on both sides of her face, bringing her eyes level with his. "Jill, I want you to know something."  
  
"What?" She said, holding back a sniff.  
  
"You found me in at a time when I was miserable. You were the first human contact that I'd had in like twenty five years! And every moment, every smile, every kiss is imbedded in my memory. You have made me the happiest man in the world."  
  
"Really?" She said, a small smile creeping onto her face.  
  
"Really. And you don't know what red dresses do to me."   
  
They danced for awhile more, each savoring the feel of the other's arms. Neither Jill or Alex wanted to let go.


	23. End of the Road

Breakfast the next morning was dismal. Even the "Just Married" glow that surrounded both Rob and Casey as they fed each other strawberries, Tabasco, and cream, did little to break the mood. A sense of doom filled Jill- each step brought her closer to a destiny that she did not want to face.  
  
"Leaving Las Vegas" Alex muttered, as they exited city limits in the rental car.  
  
"What was that?" Jill said, lifting her head off his chest.  
  
"Oh nothing." Alex said, running his fingers through her mane of hair. "I'm just remembering the way Liz, Maria, and I rushed home last time."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Your grandfather found out that we skipped school and headed here. Man, was he livid." Alex's voice changed to mimic Jim's. "It's okay to skip school to fight evil aliens and save the universe, but it isn't okay to skip for underage gambling."  
  
"How did you get back?"  
  
Alex chuckled. "We didn't want to wait for the later plane flight, so your we rented a car, and your mom drove like a bat out of Hell. Liz was certain she'd get pulled over, but we were lucky." A smile crossed his face, revealing that he hadn't left the past as far behind him as he let on.  
  
"And if we succeed, you'll be able to be back there, with Liz and Maria. And you'll be safe."  
  
"Safe." Alex muttered, staring off into the sky. "Is there such a thing?"  
  
  
***  
  
After a "Last Meal" at the Valenti house, and an impromptu aromatherapy session designed by Amy to "clear their minds" the four headed off towards the pod chamber. All had tears in their eyes, realizing that the disappearance of the Valenti house from the horizon marked the point of no return. They were actually going to do this. The plan which had seemed so abstract was now reality.  
  
They parked the car and headed for the last few feet on foot. Holding hands, a strong group of four, they approached the chamber.  
  
Alex broke the silence, trying to lighten the ominous mood. "Do you realize…" he said with a great amount of drama, "that I am the only one here who is NOT named Valenti?"  
  
Rob rolled his eyes, and Casey let out a little giggle. Jill remained silent, the specter of the rock formation in front of them filling her eyes.  
  
With a deep breath, she pulled away from her friends and stepped inside.   
  
"I thought you weren't coming." Liz said with a great amount of drama. "I thought you might have run."  
  
"I thought about it." Jill remarked, looking Liz directly in the face. "But I'm made of stronger stuff than that. I am my parents daughter."  
  
"I know." Liz replied.  
  
"You ready?" Tess said, pointing up at the large Antarian symbol. "It's almost time to go."  
  
They nodded.  
  
"It's time for last goodbyes." Liz said. "Alex, it's the end of the road."  
  
Casey impulsively hugged Alex. "I'll miss you, you know that?"  
  
"I'll miss you too." He said, his voice breaking.  
  
Rob and Alex patted each other on the back, until Casey gave her new husband a look. Then they exchanged a quick, manly hug.  
  
Jill was crying, her beautiful eyes clouded.  
  
"It's gonna be ok." He said, running his hand up and down his back. "Jill, you're gonna save the day."  
  
"But at what cost? What kind of stupid plan is this? Isn't it too much to ask someone? If I'm successful, If, I'll never exist. Rob will never exist. Casey's the only one that might exist. Alex, I haven't even lived yet. I can't leave and end my only chance to exist…"  
  
"Jill" he said, his voice soft. "I don't know what's going to happen. I know how scary it is to leave, to leave this world. But it's really not so bad. Otherwise I never would have met you. Wherever you go, what ever happens, you'll always have your soul, and your heart. Your soul is your soul and your heart is your heart."  
  
She looked up at him. "Will you remember me?"  
  
He nodded. "No force of nature, time, or destiny could cause me to forget you."  
  
Alex pulled Jill close, kissing her, a kiss of goodbye.  
  
"I love you." He said as they broke apart.  
  
"I love you, too. Always and forever." Jill said, grabbing Casey's hand and walking over to the granolith.   
  
The three put their hands on it, and suddenly they appeared in the upper chamber. Alex broke apart from the alcove where he had been standing along with Tess and Liz. He stretched his hand towards the granolith, putting his hand to Jill's through the transparent layers that separated them.  
  
Then there was white, as the granolith spurred to action.  
  
***  
  
They were coughing, their lungs full of dust.   
  
"Everyone ok?" Rob called out, still rubbing the irritating desert grit out of his eyes.  
  
"I'm fine." Jill said, sitting up and holding her head. "Even though I hit my head on something."  
  
"I'm here." Casey called, a cough interrupting the rest of her sentence.  
  
"I'm here?" A fourth voice questioned.  
  
"Alex?" Jill said, her bright blue eyes snapping open. "What are you doing here?"


	24. Destiny

***  
  
"This is just great!" Casey huffed. "He's not supposed to be here. What if past Alex sees now Alex and they both go poof, or something? It'll cause some sort of like big time hole, and we'll all be doomed."  
  
"I don't understand. Tess set the granolith for three people." Rob said, scratching his head.  
  
Jill sighed, and put her arms around Alex's neck. "I don't what he's doing here, but we have to deal with what we have. He's here now, and he's going to help us. If we're careful and just go to the Valenti's house, then we'll save Tess and be poofed out of this dimension before we know it. We're wasting valuable time wigging out."  
  
"She's right." Rob said, squeezing Casey's hand. "If life hands you peppers, you should make Tabasco sauce."  
  
"I have a bad feeling about this." Casey muttered as they trekked towards Roswell.  
  
***  
  
"It looks a lot better now." Rob said. "I still find it hard to believe that my family lived here."  
  
"They did." Jill said. "And Tess said that her bedroom was around the side. We should try to crawl in through the window."  
  
The four scrambled inside the window, Rob squeezing through first and pulling everyone else up.   
  
"What now?" Casey asked when she heard the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps.  
  
"Hide." Alex squeaked and jumped in the closet. Rob followed him, while Casey hid behind a recliner in the corner. Jill squiggled down underneath the bed.  
  
"Rob, I want you to know that this whole closet thing is most definitely Non-Vermont." Alex whispered.  
  
"Agreed." Rob nodded. "I'm a married man." He said, feeling the cool gold ring on his finger.  
  
The door opened, and slammed.   
  
"Tess, you better stay in here. Dad will calm down, eventually."   
  
Jill peered out and looked at the speaker. It was her Dad- a young version- even younger than Tara. She wanted to run out and hug him, to feel his warm arms reassuring her, just as he'd always done. But this Kyle wasn't a father- this Kyle wasn't even remotely close to Isabel.   
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"I've faced his wrath for seventeen years. I'll go take the brunt of it, and have him come back to see you, ok?"  
  
Kyle left the room, and Tess plopped down on the bed.  
  
"Owww." Jill muttered.  
  
Tess jumped, scared by the noise. Cautiously and carefully she picked up the corner of the bedspread. She saw Jill and screamed.   
  
Rob shot out of the closet, and sent a bolt of power in Tess' direction. She screamed.  
  
Casey popped up. "Rob, you could tell her what we're doing. You're scaring the crap out of her!"  
  
Just then, a series of knocks took place on the window pane.  
  
Tess moved cautiously and calmly towards the window. She opened it up.  
  
"Tess?" The 2001 version of Alex stood waiting outside the window. "I brought over the translations…"  
  
"Shhh…" Tess said and pulled him inside. "I need your help."  
  
A shadow of fear passed over Jill's face. "Alex, whatever you do, don't look and don't come out of the closet."  
  
2001 Alex was puzzled. "Who are you, how do you know my name? And I'm not even in the closet, literally or sexually."  
  
"We're here to help you." Rob growled. "You just don't know it yet." He sent another beam of power at Tess.  
  
"Hey! What the…" Alex cried as Tess landed on her bed. "What is this?"  
  
Jill shot a beam of power at Tess, and her body began to change. Her face molded to that of a much older man. The face of the older man pulled away, one body emerging from Tess' body. Tess fell back onto the bed, as the older man stood up.  
  
"Nasedo." Jill said, venom dripping from her voice.  
  
"And who are you? You can't defeat me, you…you…hybrid."  
  
"I'm proud to be who I am. ½ alien, ½ human, and 100% ready to kick your ass."  
  
The battle was fast and furious, one on one between Jill and Nasedo. Nasedo used his powers to morph and change direction, while Jill used all the skills that she had been given.  
  
It was at a stalemate when Nasedo grabbed the 2001 Alex. "If I can't have Tess, I can adapt this body to meet my needs. He's already started evolving." He growled.  
  
Rob lunged and grabbed both Jill and Casey's hand. He channeled the power, the natural born power that flowed through their veins. A bright bolt of energy shot out of the trio.   
  
They had fulfilled their destiny.  
  
Nasedo was dead.  
  
Rob ran over towards the 2001 Alex, lying in a puddle of goo that had been Nasedo. He checked for a pulse, but none was to be found. "NO!" He yelled, and ripped open Alex's shirt. He closed his eyes and tried to make the connection…but there was nothing there to connect with.   
  
Alex was dead.  
  
Rob knelt beside Alex, tears flowing down his face. "I couldn't do it…" he muttered. "I couldn't do it."   
  
Casey walked over to her husband, rubbing his head, trying to soothe him.  
  
"Make him disappear." Jill said in a low voice.  
  
"What?" Casey said, her voice full of disbelief. "We can't do that.."  
  
"Yes, we can. Make him disappear."  
  
Casey reached out and turned Alex's corpse to a pile of dust. Jill created a windstorm and blew the dust out of the window.  
  
"What was that for?" Rob muttered. "You've lost it."  
  
"No. I haven't." Jill said, her voice full of determination. "Alex, you can come out now."  
  
Alex stepped out of the closet, slowly. "What, what happened."  
  
"We defeated Nasedo."  
  
A smile grew over his face. "That's great."  
  
"There was a causality."   
  
"Tess?"   
  
Jill shook her head. "You. The 2001 Alex doesn't exist anymore."  
  
"I…I don't understand."  
  
Jill ran her hand over Alex, taking away his redheaded disguise. "It's time for you to face your Destiny, Alex."  
  
"What?"  
  
"This…this dimension needs you. Your presence will make a great difference…even save the universe. We know what will happen if you're dead Alex, and that just doesn't work. You have to go."  
  
"I don't remember how to be a teenager."  
  
"You'll remember. Everyone always wants a second childhood…"  
  
"I don't want to leave you." He said, his voice growing raggedy. "I love you, Jill. I love you."  
  
"I love you too. But you have to be brave. Wherever you are, you'll be Alex. Your heart is your heart, and your soul is your soul. I know it's scary to go back into this universe, but you'll be brave."  
  
Alex grabbed Jill and kissed her, a last kiss- their last kiss.  
  
Tess opened her eyes. "Who…who are you?" She cried, to the specters of Jill, Casey, and Rob. Their bodies were becoming transparent, and they faded away.  
  
Jim and Kyle came running in the door. "What is it? I heard you screaming!"  
  
"I'm fine. Alex just dropped off…off my keys…and he scared me. I hit my head, but I'm all right."  
  
"Really?" A look of skepticism passed over Jim's face.   
  
"Really." Alex said finding his voice. It felt weird to see the Sheriff looking so young.  
  
"Alex, you better hurry home before I call your parents. You're in enough trouble for the Vegas escapade."  
  
"Yes sir!" Alex said, running for the door.  
  
He was going home.  
  
***  
  
His mother was cooking meatloaf, her signature dish. He could smell it down the street.  
  
His father was reading the newspaper, his traditional afternoon activity.  
  
Alex raced into the house at break neck speed.  
  
He hugged his father, something he rarely did. Then he ran to his mother and embraced her too.  
  
"Son?" his dad said, looking up from the paper.  
  
"Are you crying?" Mrs. Whitman said with a hint of concern in her voice. "Honey, are you ok?"  
  
Alex shook his head. "I'm fine. I've just never been so happy to see you."


	25. Epilogue

**_2006_**  
  
His tuxedo itched. He hated the starch in the shirt, it made him itch. The things he did for a friend.   
  
For the thousandth time since the ceremony began, he wished that he would have taken an entire jar full of antacids.  
  
His stomach churned.  
  
He should be happy.   
  
Life was wonderful.  
  
Alex had a good job, a wonderful family, no more aliens to fight or FBI to run from.   
  
Today, one of his best friends was getting married. He should be happy. But he wasn't.  
  
It was one more step, one more step that assured that Jill Diane Valenti would never exist in this world.  
  
Kyle and Tess exchanged their vows, neither conscious of another reality where a totally different timeline had taken place.  
  
He'd been sad when Liz and Max eloped to Vegas- he couldn't help but compare it to the other wedding he'd been a witness too. No chance for Rob.  
  
He'd actually cried when Maria gave birth to a boy, instead of the firstborn baby girl named Casey.  
  
And a part of him was saddened when he saw his ring on Isabel's finger.  
  
He missed Jill. He loved Isabel, but there was a hole in his heart, a place in his heart that Isabel couldn't touch. No matter how hard she tried.  
  
And sometimes, he almost swore that he saw Jill's sweet face when he was talking to Isabel.  
  
He applauded and joined in the cheer the wedding party let out as Mr. And Mrs. Kyle Valenti kissed for the first time.  
  
***  
  
He sat at the reception, not really wanting to dance.   
  
Alex played with his piece of wedding cake, pushing it up and down his plate.  
  
He felt someone plunk down beside him, and looked up into the face of a very pregnant Liz Evans.  
  
"How's the little one?" He said, placing his hand on her stomach.  
  
"Doing good. Alex, what's wrong?"  
  
"Wrong? Oh, nothing?"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Don't even tell me that. I've known you for too long."  
  
Alex shrugged, and then remembered the other Liz's story about Future Max.  
  
Could it hurt?  
  
"Did you ever wonder.." he said, summoning all his courage, "What would have happened if this timeline progressed differently?"  
  
  
**THE END**


End file.
